Umar Nurmagomedov walked in as the heavy favorite. He walked out cold, the victim of a stunning second-round knockout that may have just reshaped the UFC’s bantamweight title picture. China’s Song Yadong dropped Khabib’s cousin in the main event of UFC Shanghai on August 29.
The shock result
Song Yadong, nicknamed “The Kung Fu Kid,” knocked out Umar Nurmagomedov with a vicious right hand in round two at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center, sending the home crowd into a frenzy as he sprinted out of the cage and into the stands. Given that Nurmagomedov entered as a heavy favorite, it ranks as one of the biggest statistical upsets of the year.
| Fight | Winner | Method | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Song Yadong vs. Umar Nurmagomedov (bantamweight) | Song Yadong | Knockout (right hand) | 2 |
How the fight turned
Nurmagomedov, the cousin of lightweight great Khabib Nurmagomedov, leaned on his smothering wrestling in round one and controlled the fight on the mat. But Song survived the opening round standing, and a single counter right hand in round two put the former title challenger out cold before the referee could intervene.
What it means for the bantamweight title
Both men entered the cage with their sights on a shot at Petr Yan’s bantamweight title. Yan, who won back the belt last December, defends it against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi in October, and the winner of that trilogy could now face the Chinese contender. The win gives Song his first winning streak since 2023, following a win over Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC Macau a few months earlier.
Where Nurmagomedov goes from here
For Nurmagomedov, the dream of following Khabib and Islam Makhachev to a championship has been derailed once more. The loss leaves him at 20-2, with his title hopes set back after his previous bid ended against Dvalishvili. It caps a stretch in which UFC main cards have delivered surprises, and follows a year where even marquee comebacks ended in shock. In a division that needed fresh challengers, Shanghai just delivered one.
