Song Yadong (19-7-1) will face Ricky Simón (20-3) in the main event at UFC Fight Night on Saturday night in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The fight was initially scheduled for April 22nd but was pushed back a week. The delaying of the bout didn’t affect either fighter in terms of making weight, with both fighters tipping the scales at 136 lbs at today’s weigh-ins.
Song Yadong’s last outing was a loss to top contender Cory Sandhagen via a doctor stoppage at the end of round four in September at the UFC Apex. Before the Sandhagen loss, Yadong was on a great run, losing just once since 2017 and racking up notable wins against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, Casey Kenney and Marlon Moraes. Yadong is currently the #8 ranked bantamweight in the UFC.
Ricky Simón, fighting out of Vancouver, Washington, is on quite the run himself, impressing many by beating the undefeated Welshman, Jack Shore, nine months ago in New York. A very impressive Résumé also includes a second-round knockout of Raphael Assunção and a points victory over Ray Borg. Simón heads into Saturday night’s card ranked #10 in the bantamweight division.
The co-main event sees Caio Borralho (13-1) take on Michal Oleksiejczuk (18-5-1NC) in the middleweight division. Both fighters weighed in at 185.5lbs
Irina Alekseeva weighed in at 140lbs and will now forfeit some of her purse to her opponent, Stephanie Eggar.
Hailey Cowan also came in heavy than anticipated and will also forgo some of her earnings. She was 1.5 lbs over the featherweight limit for her bout against Jamey-Lyn Horth.
UFC: Vegas 72 full card
Song Yadong v Ricky Simon
Caio Borralho v Michal Oleksiejczuk
Rodolfo Vieira v Cody Brundage
Marcos Rogerio de Lima v Waldo Cortes Acosta
Josh Quinlan v Trey Waters
Martin Buday v Jake Collier
Julian Erosa v Fernando Padilla
Cody Durden v Charles Johnson
Stephanie Egger v Irina Alekseeva*
Journey Newson v Marcus McGhee
Hailey Cowan** v Jamey-Lyn Horth
*Missed weight by 4 pounds
**Missed weight by 1.5 pounds
UFC Fight Night: Vegas will be streamed on ESPN+ in the US and BT Sport in the UK on Saturday, April 29th.
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