The Ultimate Fighting Championship can seemingly do no wrong when it comes to matchmaking the top echelon of its bantamweight division.
On Thursday night, Eurosport first broke the news that the promotion was considering Cory Sandhagen (14-4) vs. Yadong Song (19-6-1, 1 NC) to headline its upcoming Sept. 17 UFC Fight Night event. The UFC’s broadcast partner of ESPN confirmed the pairing on Friday, while stating that the contracts have not yet been signed but, both sides have agreed to it.
Sandhagen will come into this 135-pound headliner on a two-fight skid. In July 2021, he fell short to T.J. Dillashaw by contentious split decision, with the sizable majority of media members scoring it for Sandhagen. Looking to come back with a five-round interim title tilt against Petr Yan in October, Sandhagen lost more decisively to drop two in a row. In a UFC career that has come with major ups and downs, “Sandman” has beaten the likes of Frankie Edgar, Marlon Moraes and John Lineker, while suffering defeat only to UFC champs in Aljamain Sterling, Dillashaw and Yan.
This match will be Song’s first UFC main event, as he joined the roster in 2017 and rattled off eight wins and a loss with a draw interspersed along the way. The 24-year-old out of China has won his last three, which includes a split decision over Casey Kenney and a pair of knockouts over Julio Arce and Moraes. His lone UFC setback came at UFC 259 in 2021, where he lost a decision to Kyler Phillips.
The UFC has not yet disclosed the location of the upcoming UFC Fight Night card on Sept. 17. A few other matches from Sept. 10 have been displaced on this event for undetermined reasons. Of note, Damon Jackson vs. Pat Sabatini at featherweight has also been booked for this fight card, with news of that coming from Jackson’s management team of Iridium Sports Agency also on Friday.
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