Former double champion and king of cringe Henry Cejudo returns against Rising contender Song Yadong at UFC Seattle.
This fight feels incredibly pivotal in the career of Henry Cejudo. After an amazing 2 year run through flyweight and bantamweight Cejudo announced retirement in 2020. He had just been through a murderers row of title fights, beating the likes of Demetrius Johnson, TJ Dillashaw, Marlon Moraes and Dominick Cruz. Fans questioned the decision and 3 years later Cejudo returned to challenge Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288. After a competitive fight Cejudo lost via split decision. His last fight was a dominant defeat against now reigning champion Merab Dvalishvili, a two fight skid potentially three could spell a definitive retirement for the king of cringe.
Song Yadong steps up to try and scalp a legend of the game in his 15th UFC bout. The Chinese bantamweight picked up four performance bonuses in his first six UFC fights, propelling him rapidly towards the rankings. Five knockouts in ten UFC wins he will fancy himself against the ageing former champ. He’s only lost three times in the organisation and his most recent loses have come at the hands Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen two of the very elite at 135lbs. Cejudo was once in that conversation, the question is whether he is still up there.
Ones To Watch
Well ranked middleweights will stake their claim for a shot at title contention in the co main even at UFC Seattle. Anthony Hernandez is on a six fight win streak while also earning performance bonuses in his last two fights. He is 7-2 in the UFC with six of those wins coming by finish. Across the octagon will be Brendan Allen, a man Hernandez has previously beaten in LFA back in 2018. Of course in seven years both men have improved drastically. Allen is now 15 fights deep in his own UFC tenure and up until his last fight was in electric form. Before his fight with Nassourdine Imavov in Paris, Allen was on a 7 fight win streak with 5 finishes all being rear naked chokes.
Throughout the card there are many debutants stepping in on short notice due to the number of pull outs leading up to fight night. Nick Klein faces the stiff test of unbeaten Mansur Abdul-Malik, but he feels the short notice is not an issue for him. The highest profile debutant is Austin Vanderford, former Bellator contender returned to the cage last October with a first round finish in LFA. Fan favourites on the card include one of the Fighting Nerds best Jean Silva, aiming for the featherweight rankings. Turkish light heavyweight Ibo Aslan will want to continue his excellent start to his UFC career, looking for his third finish in three bouts.
UFC Seattle
Main Card
Bantamweight – Henry Cejudo vs Song Yadong
Result: Yadong def. Cejudo via Technical Decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
Highlights:
Middleweight – Brendan Allen vs Anthony Hernandez
Result: Hernandez def. Allen via Unanimous Decision (29-28×3)
Highlights:
Catchweight (140lbs) – Rob Font vs Jean Matsumoto
Result: Font def. Matsumoto via Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29)
Highlights:
Featherweight – Jean Silva vs Melsik Baghdasaryan
Result: Silva def. Baghdasaryan via TKO (straight right and punches) Round 1 4:15
Highlights:
Light Heavyweight – Alonzo Menifield vs Julius Walker
Result: Menifield def. Walker via Split Decision (30-27, 29-28, 28-29)
Highlights:
Prelims
Light Heavyweight – Ion Cutelaba vs Ibo Aslan
Result: Aslan def. Cutelaba via Submission (arm triangle) Round 1 2:51
Highlights:
Featherweight – Andre Fili vs Melquizael Costa
Result: Costa def. Fili via Submission (guillotine) Round 1 4:30
Highlights:
Middleweight – Nick Klein vs Mansur Abdul-Malik
Result: Abdul-Malik def. Klein via TKO (punches) Round 2 3:24
Highlights:
Bantamweight – Ricky Simon vs Javid Basharat
Result: Simon def. Basharat via KO (straight right) Round 1 3:58
Highlights:
Catchweight (175lbs) – Austin Vanderford vs Nikolay Veretennikov
Result: Vanderford def. Veretennikov via TKO (ground and pound) Round 2 4:13
Highlights:
Middleweight – Nursulton Ruziboev vs Eric McConico
Result: Ruziboev def. McConico via TKO (punches) Round 2 0:33
Highlights:
Light Heavyweight – Modestas Bukauskas vs Raffael Cerqueira
Result: Bukauskas def. Cerqueira via KO (left hook and punches) Round 1 2:12
Highlights:
