UFC Shanghai Delivers Awesome Main Card Saturday!

UFC Shanghai fight week rolls on. As the summer schedule of events from the UFC continues to wind down, the action inside the fabled Octagon keeps kicking. Saturday morning (USA time,) Oriental Sports Center in China's Pudong District serves as the setting for this week's installment of UFC Fight Night.

Live coverage of UFC Shanghai  begins early Saturday morning at 3 am ET/ 12 midnight PT with the prelims. Main card action follows at 6 am ET/ 3 am PT.

Stateside, UFC Shanghai can be seen gavel-to-gavel on Paramount Plus. All told, the final version of the card, absent of any 11th-hour postponements. features 13 fights.

UFC Shanghai Main Event: No. 3 Contender Umar Nurmagomedov vs. No. 6 Contender Song Yadong: Nurmagomedov Back in Action After Delay

At the top of the bill on Saturday night, the bantamweights take to the Octagon for a pivotal bout matching No. 3 contender Umar Nurmagomedov (20-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) against No. 6 contender Song Yadong (23-9-1, 1 NC MMA, 12-4-1 UFC.) This main event is an advertised five rounds at five minutes per round to close out the show. 

Umar Nurmagomedov will be making the walk at UFC Shanghai on Saturday with a record of 4-1 in his last five fights. At the moment, he's on a two-fight winning streak.

Back on Jan. 24 during UFC 324, he scored a unanimous decision victory over Deiveson Figuereido (25-7-1 MMA, 14-7-1.) After that contest, Nurmagomedov was slated to make his return to competition on July 25 in Abu Dhabi versus David Martinez before the fight was scrubbed ahead of the show due to Martinez suffering an injury.

He's had an extra month to prepare between fights. How much has the change in opponent affected Nurmagomedov's gameplan?

Song Yadong Looking to Build off Figuereido Submission Win

Across the way, Song Yadong enters UFC Shanghai having posted a mark of 3-2 in his past five outings. On May 30, he stopped the aforementioned Deiveson Figueiredo with a second-round submission in UFC Macau.

In so doing, he secured a cash advance in the amount of $50,000 (USD) for the Performance of the Night. He currently sits at No. 6 in the rankings at 135 lbs and wants to place himself firmly in the championship picture with a victory, something he expressed in an interview with MMA Junkie. 

"If I beat him, UFC will definitely give me the title shot after this," Song Yadong said recently.

Just winning the fight might not be enough to guarantee him a shot at the title. A win by stoppage would mean that anything is possible for Song after UFC Shanghai.

UFC Shanghai Co-Main Event: No. 4 Contender Yan Xiaonan vs. No. 14 Contender Denise Gomes: Yan Returns After 16-Month Hiatus

Immediately beforehand, strawweight action serves as the focus of the UFC Shanghai co-main event between No. 4 contender Yan Xiaonan (19-5. 1 NC MMA, 9-4 UFC) and No. 14 contender Denise Gomes (12-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC.) This is a three-round fight at five minutes per round.

Yan Xiaonan enters the co-main attraction sporting a 3-2 record in her last five trips to the Octagon. It's been over 16 months since she last fought, however.

On April 12, 2025, Yan fought Virna Jandiroba (23-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) in UFC 314, losing by way of unanimous decision. Since then, she's been recovering from a broken ankle. With a clean bill of health now afforded to her, how will she fare in her return to competition?

Denise Gomes on Hot Streak Ahead of UFC Shanghai

Meanwhile, Denise Gomes has gone 4-1 in her last five contests. Presently, she's on a four-fight winning streak.

On Nov. 8, she scored a unanimous decision win against Tecia Pennington inside Meta Apex after 15 minutes of action. As a result of the victory, she secured a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. This is a crucial three rounds or less of action for the Gomes camp on Saturday in Shanghai.

With Yan Xiaonan in the top-5 of the rankings at 115, if Gomes gets her hand raised in victory here, it would build her resume.

UFC Shanghai: Aoriqileng vs. Kai Asakura: Aoriqileng Looking to Rebound in Front of Countrymen

Also on UFC Shanghai's main card Saturday, fans will be treated to more bantamweight action when Aoriqileng (26-13, 1 NC MMA, 4-5, 1 NC UFC) fights Kai Asakura (22-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC.) Aoriqileng enters the weekend with a mark of 2-2 with one no-contest in his last five trips to the cage.

On May 30 in Macau, he was on the losing end of a second-round knockout from Cody Haddon (9-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC.)  This was Haddon's return to competition after having two fights postponed without a single punch thrown. 

This is another "home game" for Aoriqileng, who was born in Inner Mongolia, China. Expect a partisan crowd inside Oriental Sports Center on Saturday. 

RIZIN Vet Asakura Aiming for .500 Record in UFC During UFC Shanghai

In the other corner, Kai Asakura enters Saturday's card with a mark of 3-2 in his five latest outings. Like Aoriqileng, Askura also fought on May 30 during the Macau card.

That night, he punched his way to a first-round knockout over Cameron Smotherman (12-8 MMA, 1-3 UFC) with a left hook. Askaura pocketed $50,000 at the post-fight press conference for the Performance of the Night and Smotherman was soon out of the UFC.

He'll be playing the role of the heel in this fight, so one question remains: Can he make the Shanghai crowd go home with long faces?

Rest of the Card

UFC Shanghai's main card is rounded out by these bouts:

• A flyweight contest between No. 11 contender Alex Perez (26-10, 1 NC MMA, 8-6, 1 NC UFC) and Sumudaerji (19-7, 1 NC MMA, 6-4, 1 NC UFC) in a rebooking of a fight from UFC Macau which ended in a no-contest,
• a light heavyweight fight matching Ce Liu (3-1 MMA, UFC promotional debut) against Levi Rodrigues Jr. (5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC,)
• and a flyweight fight pairing Bilal Hasan (9-0 MMA, UFC promotional debut) with Nilson Rojas (9-0 MMA, UFC promotional debut.)