Top Reasons to Catch UFC Seattle

Yadong Song stands on the precipice of another potential career-altering opportunity in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division.

The brick-fisted Team Alpha Male rep will do battle with former two-division titleholder and onetime Olympic gold medalist Henry Cejudo in the UFC Fight Night 252 headliner on Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Song, 27, has won five of his past seven bouts and carries a 10-3-1 record across his 14 appearances inside the Octagon. He last saw action at UFC 299, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Petr Yan in their three-round encounter on March 9. Meanwhile, the mercurial Cejudo enters the cage on the heels of back-to-back post-retirement losses. The Fight Ready MMA ace has not suited up since he wound up on the wrong side of a three-round unanimous decision against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298 a little more than a year ago. Victories over Dominick Cruz, T.J. Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson anchor the stellar Cejudo resume.

Outside of the intriguing bantamweight tilt between Song and Cejudo, here are three other reasons to catch UFC Fight Night 252:

Revenge Factor

Missteps on the regional circuit were few and far between for Brendan Allen. The Kill Cliff Fight Club export gets the chance to right one of them when he rematches with fellow former Legacy Fighting Alliance champion Anthony Hernandez in the middleweight co-main event. Allen was on ascent toward the top of the 185-pound weight class until his most recent assignment—a unanimous decision defeat to Nassourdine Imavov at UFC Fight Night 243 in September. The setback has aged well but brought his seven-fight winning streak to a close and forced him back to the drawing board one more time. Allen, 29, has secured 19 of his 24 professional victories by knockout, technical knockout or submission, giving him a formidable 79% finish rate. On the other side of the equation, Hernandez has quietly strung together six straight wins. He last competed on Oct. 19, when he administered an epic beatdown and put away Michel Pereira with a volley of elbows in the fifth round of their UFC Fight Night 245 pairing. Hernandez landed 152 significant strikes and completed 10 takedowns in the rout.

Put to the Test

A long-awaited step up in competition awaits Jean Matsumoto, albeit under less-than-ideal circumstances. The unbeaten prospect fills in on short notice for the injured and now-retired Dominick Cruz and confronts ex-CES MMA champion Rob Font in a three-round catchweight showcase at 140 pounds. Matsumoto, 25, steps into the spotlight with a perfect 16-0 mark in tow. The Dana White’s Contender Series graduate last strapped on the gloves at UFC Fight Night 245, where he took a unanimous decision from “The Ultimate Fighter 27” and “The Ultimate Fighter 31” winner Brad Katona on Oct. 19. Matsumoto operates out of the Inside MMA camp in Brazil, where he trains under Hugo Goncalves. Font, meanwhile, has established himself as a staple of the bantamweight division during his decade-long run with the promotion. The New England Cartel mainstay rebounded from consecutive defeats to Cory Sandhagen and Deiveson Figueiredo in his most recent outing, as he outpointed Kyler Phillips across three rounds in October.

High Upside

No one yet knows exactly how high the ceiling goes for Mansur Abdul-Malik. The intriguing but unproven middleweight talent puts his 7-0 record in the line when he meets organizational newcomer Nick Klen as part of the robust undercard. Abdul-Malik, 27, has finished all seven of his opponents as a professional, six of them inside one round. The undefeated MMA Masters export excelled in his Octagon debut, as he shredded Dusko Todorovic with a knee strike and follow-up punches 2:44 into their Nov. 9 clash at UFC Fight Night 247. On the other side of the docket, Klein nailed down his spot on the UFC roster via DWCS in October, when he needed just 37 seconds to dispatch Heraldo Souza with a rear-naked choke. The 29-year-old Wisconsin native answers the call as a short-notice substitution for Antonio Trocoli.