The upcoming UFC Seattle card has its headliner, and a former champ will anchor the promotion’s return to the city for the first time in over a decade.
Ex-bantamweight champ Henry Cejudo (16-4) will headline the show, paired up with bantamweight contender Song Yadong (21-8-1, 1NC).
News of the booking was first reported by Krazy Kev MMA, with ESPN, the UFC’s official broadcast partner, also confirming the news. Cageside Press confirmed the booking with a source familiar with the situation.
Cejduo, one of the select few UFC double-champs (having held gold at both 125 and 135lbs), is looking for his first victory since returning to action following a three-year retirement between May 2020 and May 2023. Since his return, he’s lost a pair of fights to Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili — the first a title fight, and the second a scrap with the man who would become champion in his very next fight.
An Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling, Cejudo holds wins over Demetrious Johnson, T.J. Dillashaw, Sergio Pettis, Dominick Cruz, Marlon Moraes, and others. At 37, however, his window at the top is rapidly closing, and a third consecutive loss might just shut it for good.
Team Alpha Male’s Song Yadong is 2-2 across his last four fights, and coming off a loss against former champion Petr Yan. The card will mark Song’s fourth main event spot under the UFC banner.
UFC Seattle takes place on February 22, 2025 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA. The following match-ups have been reported for the Fight Night event:
- Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong
- Ketlen Vieira vs. Macy Chiasson
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev
- Edson Barboza vs. Steve Garcia
- Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
- Adam Fugitt vs. Islam Dulatov
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira
- Ion Cuțelaba vs. Ibo Aslan
- Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Antonio Trócoli vs. Mansur-Abdul Malik
- Dominick Cruz vs. Rob Font
