Another Bantamweight banger looks to be getting put together to help close out Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) 2023 calendar.
A thrilling match up between former undisputed and interim titleholder, Petr Yan (16-5), and rising contender, Song Yadong (20-7-1, 1 no contest), is in the works to serve as the main event of a UFC Fight Night event on Dec. 9, 2023, reports Chris Presnell. The event doesn’t have a location set as of yet, but is being targeted for Shanghai, China. The country last hosted a UFC event when two-time UFC Strawweight champion, Zhang Weili, first won the title with a 42-second technical knockout of Jessica Andrade in Shenzhen in August 2019.
Yan, 30, will look to get back in the win column after falling on hard times, riding a three-fight losing skid. “No Mercy” last picked up a unanimous decision win when facing Cory Sandhagen in October 2021. The Russian followed-up the performance with back-to-back hard-fought split decision defeats against the former champion and now-champion, Aljamain Sterling and Sean O’Malley. The third time, unfortunately for Yan, wasn’t the charm when he fought surging contender, Merab Dvalishvili, who beat him via a one-sided unanimous decision in March 2023.
The 25-year-old Song achieved his first UFC main event victory in his last time out, finishing Ricky Simon by strikes in round five of their April 2023 clash (watch highlights). China’s Song has won four of his last five with only the aforementioned Sandhagen besting him in late 2022.
Adding Yan vs. Song to the Dec. 9, 2023 UFC Fight Night would make it only the third fight at present. A pair of fun prospect bouts at Light Heavyweight and Flyweight are currently on tap as Zhang Mingyang is set to take on Brendson Ribeiro while Sumadaerjii battles Allan Nascimento.