The bantamweight bout between Ricky Simon vs. Yadong Song that was originally scheduled to be the co-headliner for Saturday was changed one week later to serve as the main event of UFC Fight Night 223.
The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the change Monday evening. UFC Fight Night 223 was initially supposed to feature a lightweight bout between Renato Carneiro and Arman Tsarukyan before Moicano was forced to pull off the card due to an injury. Tsarukyan will be eliminated from the event rather than receive an alternate opponent.
UFC Fight Night 222, which takes place this Saturday at UFC Apex in Las Vegas, will feature 12 fights, including the Sergei Pavlovich-Curtis Blaydes heavyweight championship. Simon vs. Song gets five rounds at UFC Fight Night 223, which is also set for the UFC Apex.
Well anchored in American Top Team Portland, Simon has been victorious in his last five matches at the Octagon. Most recently, he picked up a second round victory over Jack Shore at UFC on ABC 3 last July. Simon is 8-2 in UFC competition, with wins against Rafael Assuncau, Ray Borg, Rani Yahya and Merab Dvlishvili also on his resume.
Meanwhile, Song had snapped a three-win streak in his latest outing, when he suffered a fourth-round stoppage loss to Corey Sandhagen in the main event of UFC Fight Night 210 on September 17. The “Kung Fu Kid” is 8-2-1 during his tenure with the promotion, with other notable wins against the likes of Marlon Morais, Casey Kinney and Marlon Vera.
BREAKING: We have a bantamweight barn burner sneaking into the main event spotlight next Saturday, April 29th! 🔥@tweet
And @tweet
Go head to head
#UFCVegas72! pic.twitter.com/yY2VW4DMxP– UFC (ufc)
April 18, 2023