Yadong caps finish-filled UFC Shanghai with stunning KO vs. Nurmagomedov

Another Fight Night has come and gone, and just like the last one, it didn’t disappoint.

Capping off the 13-fight card from Shanghai was China’s Song Yadong, who upset Umar Nurmagomedov in a matchup between ranked bantamweights contenders.

Yadong entered the night as the No. 6-ranked fighter at 135 pounds, but will surely climb the ladder after knocking out No. 2 Nurmagomedov just two minutes into Round 2 of the main event.

As the two fighters sized each other up in the middle of the octagon, Yadong feinted with a left hook and caught a ducking Nurmagomedov with a straight right that put an abrupt end to the fight and sent the local Chinese crowd into a roar.

The victory made it back-to-back stoppage wins for Yadong — bouncing back well from a loss to Sean O’Malley in January with a submission of Deiveson Figueiredo before knocking out Nurmagomedov — and earned him consecutive performance of the night bonuses.

The stunning finish improved the 28-year-old to 13-4-1 in the UFC, and handed Nurmagomedov just his second loss under the banner. The now 8-2-0 fighter began his UFC career a perfect 6-0-0 but has since lost two of his last four fights. The other defeat came via unanimous decision against former bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili in a title bout last year.

It was also the first time that Nurmagomedov had been knocked out since turning pro a decade ago, and the final of 10 early stoppages on the night, which included eight KO/TKOs and two submissions.

Just before Yadong’s big win, Denise Gomes pulled off an upset of her own in the co-main event against China’s Yan Xiaonan. The No. 9-ranked women’s strawweight secured a first-round TKO win over the division’s No. 4 thanks to a perfectly placed elbow.

It was Gomes’ fifth straight victory, which made it the longest active win streak in the division and tied Jessica Andrade for most knockouts in UFC women’s strawweight history (four). The Brazilian has not lost since 2024 and is now 7-2-0 in the UFC. Xiaonan is now trending in the opposite direction, with Saturday’s defeat making it back-to-back losses and three of her last four, to drop to 9-5-0 under the banner.

As for the rest of the card from the Oriental Sports Center, Liu Ce and Levi Rodrigues made sure to do their part in entertaining the crowd of 16,188. The pair of heavyweights earned fight of the night bonuses after immediately letting their fists fly following the opening bell — exchanges that ultimately ended with China’s Ce earning a first-round KO in his UFC debut and handing Rodrigues his first pro loss.

Bonuses for first-timers didn’t stop there, however, as another debutant in Bilal Hasan did enough to impress and earn some extra cash. The “IndoNinja” managed to secure a second-round KO against Nilson Rojas even after facing some early troubles in the fight. Hasan landed a roaring right that left no debate on who the winner would be, while improving his unbeaten pro MMA record to 10-0-0.

Kai Asakura, Francesco Nuzzi, Hector Santiago and Julia Polastri rounded out the fighters to record KO/TKO wins, while Andre Lima and Kevin Borjas secured the lone submission victories of the night.

All in all, it was a mixed bag of results for the eight Chinese fighters on home soil, with a combined showing of 3-5-0. The losses began as early as the opening bout of the card as Canada’s Cam Nelson — in his UFC debut — kicked off prelim action with a unanimous decision win over Ding Meng.