A bantamweight clash pitting Ricky Simon
against Yadong Song
that was originally slated to be this Saturday’s co-headliner has
been shifted one week later to serve as the
UFC Fight Night 223 main event.

The Las Vegas-based promotion announced the change on Monday
evening. UFC Fight Night 223 was initially supposed to feature a
lightweight clash between Renato
Carneiro and Arman
Tsarukyan before “Moicano” was forced to withdraw from the card
due to injury. Tsarukyan will be removed from the event rather than
receiving a replacement opponent.

UFC
Fight Night 222, which takes place on Saturday at the UFC Apex
in Las Vegas, will move forward with 12 fights, including the
Sergei
Pavlovich–Curtis
Blaydes heavyweight headliner. Simon vs. Song will now be
contested over five rounds at UFC Fight Night 223, which is also
set for the UFC Apex.

Anchored at American Top Team Portland, Simon has been victorious
in his last five Octagon appearances. Most recently, he scored a
second-round submission triumph over Jack Shore
at UFC on ABC 3 this past July. Simon is 8-2 in UFC competition,
with victories against Raphael
Assuncao, Ray Borg,
Rani
Yahya and Merab
Dvalishvili also on his resume.

Song, meanwhile, had a three-bout winning streak snapped in his
last outing, when he suffered a fourth-round doctor stoppage loss
to Cory
Sandhagen in the UFC Fight Night 210 main event on Sept. 17.
“Kung Fu Kid” is 8-2-1 during his tenure with the promotion, with
other notable wins against the likes of Marlon
Moraes, Casey
Kenney and Marlon
Vera.





Source link

Ricky Simon vs. Yadong Song Shifted to UFC Fight Night 223 Main Event