Song Yadong Changed Everything With His Brutal Knockout of Umar Nurmagomedov

Song Yadong has had a reputation for being a great, standout talent in the MMA world – let alone the UFC – where the talent pool at bantamweight runs deep. A striking specialist with plenty of technical skill and power behind him, Yadong has had one thing holding him back, however: coming up short in the biggest of opportunities.

That changed on Saturday at UFC Shanghai.

Many expected Yadong to be unable to handle the relentless pressure and Dagestani wrestling of Umar Nurmagomedov. The expectation going into the fight was that if Nurmagomedov won, then he’d get another crack at the UFC bantamweight championship if Merab Dvalishvili defeated Petr Yan in their trilogy bout at UFC 333. After all, it’d only make sense considering Nurmagomedov’s No. 2 ranking and the fact that he was one round away from taking the gold the first time he and Dvalishvili fought at UFC 311, right?

Well, Yadong didn’t get that memo, especially not in front of a native crowd at the Oriental Sports Center. Yadong ended up brutally knocking out Umar Nurmagomedov in the second round of the UFC Shanghai main event. This makes Yadong the first person to finish Nurmagomedov, as well as just the second fighter ever to defeat him.

The expectation heading into this fight was the grappler vs. striker approach – meaning that for Yadong to succeed and have a shot at winning, he needed to keep the fight standing. But many doubted Yadong’s ability to do this over the course of a potential 25-minute period.

But Yadong caused some eyebrows to be raised early in round one. After a feeling-out process, Nurmagomedov shot in for a takedown attempt. Yadong was taken down, but not before attempting to counter with a guillotine choke, trying to secure an arm around Nurmagomedov’s neck. And to Yadong’s credit, he managed to get back to his feet.

Yadong had to have known what he was in for, and must have had a plan in place, as he was loose, smiling, and bouncing around as round two was about to get underway. Nurmagomedov inevitably went in for another takedown attempt, but Yadong stuffed it as he attempted to get his striking going again.

Then, as Nurmagomedov went low and shot in for another takedown attempt, Yadong snuck an uppercut in that landed on the side of Nurmagomedov’s neck. Whether Yadong hit a crucial spot or we saw something in Nurmagomedov’s chin (or lack thereof), the result was Nurmagomedov falling face-first on the mat, out cold.

The crowd went nuts. The MMA community went nuts. Usman Nurmagomedov went nuts (in a concerned way as he ran into the Octagon to check on Umar, causing what appears to be the next new meme in the online MMA community).

And on a night of absolute madness and upsets in combat sports – also featuring Chantelle Cameron’s title win, Filip Hrgovic’s IBF heavyweight title win, Brandon Jenkins’ finish of Mike Perry – Yadong really stood out.

Yadong took the mic and screamed for a title shot next. He’ll be in the top-five, if not the top-three, come Monday. The commentary team seemed to feel Yadong secured himself a title shot already.

And perhaps he did. However, if Yan defeats Dvalishvili at UFC 333, you can’t not expect the UFC to try to book a trilogy bout between Yan and Sean O’Malley. After all, the UFC has been thoroughly behind “The Suga Show” since the start of his UFC career, Yan was the man who handed him his first loss, and O’Malley retained the title against Yan at UFC 299. The story writes itself there.

But either way, Yadong gained himself some leverage. And he can finally say he’s broken through – he is now a true upper-echelon bantamweight contender in the UFC.