Urijah Faber says if Song Yadong vs. Umar Nurmagomedov happens, it won’t be in December.
Rumors emerged that Nurmagomedov (18-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) has opted to remain active by taking on rising contender Yadong (21-8-1 MMA, 10-3-1 UFC) on Dec. 14. Yadong’s head coach Faber shut down rumblings of a December fight, and thinks the fight would probably take place Jan. 18 at UFC 311.
Nurmagomedov emerged as No. 1 contender after defeating Cory Sandhagen in his first main event in August. But with newly crowned champion Merab Dvalishvili wanting to defend his belt in March – during the month of Ramadan where Nurmagomedov doesn’t compete, Nurmagomedov would rather not wait.
“We don’t have a date for that yet,” Faber told Helen Yee. “I don’t think Dec. 14 is the date that we’ve talked about. I think January is what we’re looking at, but we like that fight. I think both Umar and Song are guys that people don’t want to fight, so they’re both willing to step up. I think that’s a good fight.
“We’d fight (champion Sean) O’Malley. We’d fight (Deiveson) Figueiredo. We’d fight any of these guys, really. But yeah, they’ve been talking about that fight. I’ve been seeing all sorts of stuff being posted about that fight, Nothing’s been signed. That date has not been agreed upon. If that fight does happen, it’d most likely happen in January.”
Team Alpha Male’s Yadong has won five of his past seven, but is coming off a unanimous decision loss to former champion Petr Yan at UFC 299 in March.
