The China native delivered an incredible moment in front of his fellow countrymen on Saturday in one of the biggest upsets of the year



A year of huge upsets in the UFC Octagon continued on Saturday morning. In the UFC Fight Night main event from Shanghai, Song Yadong knocked out Umar Nurmagomedov to launch himself into the bantamweight championship picture.

Nurmagomedov entered the fight as a huge -600 favorite to score the win, which would likely have secured a second opportunity for him to fight for the championship. He had previously fought for the title in January 2025, losing a decision to Merab Dvalishvili. Instead, it's Yadong who may find himself fighting for the belt.

Yadong found early confidence when he was taken down by Nurmagomedov but threatened with a guillotine choke before finding a slick sweep to get back to his feet and battle to the end of the opening round.

In the second round, Nurmagomedov looked free and loose with his striking, but was unsuccessful in trying to get the fight to the floor once again, with Yadong executing a perfectly timed sprawl to keep the fight standing.

Nurmagomedov attempted to mix up his strikes before another takedown attempt, but Yadong timed a combination that saw him throw a lead uppercut before a right hand that landed just behind Nurmagomedov's ear, sending the former title challenger crashing to the canvas.

A few Yadong punches later and the referee called a halt to the fight at the 1:48 mark of Round 2.

"I want to say, who's next?" Yadong said after the fight. "Who's next? Nobody believed in me, but all my teammates believed in me. I trusted myself and I got the win. ... Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, maybe not next month, but I will be the first male Chinese world champion. Give me the title shot."

Yadong scored his second consecutive victory following a January loss to Sean O'Malley. In May, Yadong submitted former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo and now knocked out a former bantamweight title challenger to run his career record to 24-9-1.

UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Yadong card, results
Song Yadong def. Umar Nurmagomedov via second-round knockout (punch)
Yan Xiaonan -142 vs. Denise Gomes +120, women's strawweights
Kai Asakura def. Aoriqileng via second-round TKO (strikes)
Sumudaerji def. Alex Perez via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Liu Ce def. Levi Rodrigues Jr. via first-round knockout (punch)
Bilal Hasan def. Nilson Rojas via first-round knockout (punch)

Source