A fight between Yan and Song is no longer targeted for the UFC’s return to China after Song revealed the Russian fighter is injured.
The UFC will have to find another opponent to face Song Yadong when the promotion returns to China on December 9th.
The Fight Night card is still coming together and features Road to UFC fighter Mingyang Zhang vs. Brendson Ribiero. Su Mudaerji will take on Allan Nascimento, and Park Jun-yong will fight Andre Muniz. But there’s a big hole at the top of the card that still needs filling.
You’d think the obvious fight to headline a card in China would be women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili defending her title against No. 2 ranked Yan Xiaonan. But for whatever reason, the UFC is hoping to put No. 7 ranked bantamweight Song Yadong into the main event slot. The original plan was to have him face No. 5 ranked Petr Yan, but that fight is now off the table due to a Yan injury.
On Douyin, Song Yadong confirmed that Petr Yan was the plan for December 9th, and revealed a text from his manager claiming that Yan is injured. https://t.co/g3pqCUsHpj pic.twitter.com/UT3tfyaGpp
— Chris Presnell (@mmaecosystem) October 9, 2023
“As far as the main event on December 9th goes, there was a plan to have Song vs. Yan in that spot,” MMA Ecosystem’s Chris Presnell reported on X (formerly Twitter). “But Petr Yan is no longer in that plan. The search continues for an opponent for Song Yadong.”
“On Douyin [Chinese TikTok], Song Yadong confirmed that Petr Yan was the plan for December 9th, and revealed a text from his manager claiming that Yan is injured,” he added.
Yan is currently on a three fight losing slump and hasn’t competed since a March defeat to Merab Dvalishvili. All three of those defeats came to opponents at the very top of the division. Song is 4-1 over his last five with the defeat coming to Cory Sandhagen. His most recent bout in April was a fifth round TKO win over Ricky Simon in the main event of a UFC on ESPN show.