UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Song
Mixed martial arts event in 2025
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Song (also known as UFC Fight Night 252 and UFC on ESPN+ 110) was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on February 22, 2025, at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington, United States.[2]
| UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Song | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
The poster for UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Song | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | February 22, 2025 | |||
| Venue | Climate Pledge Arena | |||
| City | Seattle, Washington, United States | |||
| Attendance | 18,287[1] | |||
| Total gate | $3,841,751.94[1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
The event marked the promotion's fourth visit to Seattle and first since UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Moraga in July 2013.[3]
A bantamweight bout between former UFC Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion (also 2008 Olympic gold medalist in freestyle wrestling) Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong headlined the event.[4]
A women's bantamweight bout between Ketlen Vieira and The Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters women's featherweight winner Macy Chiasson was expected to take place at the event.[5] However, due to an injury suffered by Chiasson, the bout was removed from the card.[6] The pair was previously scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Ankalaev vs. Walker 2 in January 2024, but Vieira was pulled as a result of an injury and the bout was scrapped.[7]
A middleweight bout between Mansur Abdul-Malik and Antonio Trócoli was scheduled for this event.[8] However, Trócoli withdrew for undisclosed reasons and was replaced by Nick Klein.[9]
A welterweight bout between promotional newcomer Islam Dulatov and Adam Fugitt was scheduled for this event.[10] However, Dulatov withdrew from the fight due to an undisclosed injury and was replaced by Billy Goff.[11] In turn, the bout was scrapped during fight week as Fugitt pulled out due to injury.[12]
Middleweight Chidi Njokuani was reportedly linked to this event, but he ended up being scheduled to compete at UFC Fight Night: Vettori vs. Dolidze 2 instead.[13][14]
A bantamweight bout between former two-time UFC Bantamweight Champion (also former WEC Bantamweight Champion) Dominick Cruz and Rob Font was scheduled for this event.[15] However, Cruz withdrew from the fight due to an injury. He then announced his retirement.[16] Jean Matsumoto, who was scheduled to compete at UFC 313, replaced him in a catchweight bout of 140 pounds.[17]
A heavyweight bout between former interim UFC Heavyweight Championship challenger Curtis Blaydes and promotional newcomer Rizvan Kuniev was scheduled for this event.[18] However, the bout was moved to March 8 at UFC 313 for undisclosed reasons.[19]
A featherweight bout between Edson Barboza and Steve Garcia was scheduled for this event.[20] However, Barboza withdrew from the fight due to an injury and the bout was scrapped.[6]
The Ultimate Fighter: Live lightweight winner Michael Chiesa was linked to this card with an unnamed opponent.[21] However, no opponent was ever announced so he was removed from the card.[6]
Results
| Main card (ESPN+) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Bantamweight | Song Yadong | def. | Henry Cejudo | Technical Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | [a] |
| Middleweight | Anthony Hernandez | def. | Brendan Allen | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Catchweight (140 lb) | Rob Font | def. | Jean Matsumoto | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Featherweight | Jean Silva | def. | Melsik Baghdasaryan | TKO (punches and elbows) | 1 | 4:15 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Alonzo Menifield | def. | Julius Walker | Decision (split) (29–28, 30–27, 28–29) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN+) | |||||||
| Light Heavyweight | Ion Cuțelaba | def. | İbo Aslan | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | 1 | 2:51 | |
| Featherweight | Melquizael Costa | def. | Andre Fili | Submission (guillotine choke) | 1 | 4:30 | |
| Middleweight | Mansur Abdul-Malik | def. | Nick Klein | TKO (punches) | 2 | 3:24 | |
| Bantamweight | Ricky Simón | def. | Javid Basharat | KO (punches) | 1 | 3:58 | |
| Catchweight (175 lb) | Austin Vanderford | def. | Nikolay Veretennikov | TKO (punches) | 2 | 4:13 | |
| Middleweight | Nursulton Ruziboev | def. | Eric McConico | TKO (punches) | 2 | 0:33 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Modestas Bukauskas | def. | Raffael Cerqueira | KO (punches) | 1 | 2:12 | |
- An eye injury due to an accidental eye poke rendered Cejudo unable to continue.
Bonus awards
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[23]
- Fight of the Night: Alonzo Menifield vs. Julius Walker
- Performance of the Night: Jean Silva and Ricky Simón
Reported payout
The following is the reported payout to the fighters as reported to the Washington State Athletic Commission. It is important to note the amounts do not include sponsor money, discretionary bonuses, viewership points or additional earnings.[24]
- Song Yadong: $320,000 (includes $160,000 win bonus) def. Henry Cejudo: $150,000
- Anthony Hernandez: $140,000 (includes $72,000 win bonus) def. Brendan Allen: $210,000
- Rob Font: $320,000 (includes $160,000 win bonus) def. Jean Matsumoto: $26,000
- Jean Silva: $90,000 (includes $45,000 win bonus) def. Melsik Baghdasaryan: $35,000
- Alonzo Menifield: $240,000 (includes $120,000 win bonus) def. Julius Walker: $12,000
- Ion Cuțelaba: $190,000 (includes $95,000 win bonus) def. İbo Aslan: $35,000
- Melquizael Costa: $48,000 (includes $24,000 win bonus) def. Andre Fili: $110,000
- Mansur Abdul-Malik: $24,000 (includes $12,000 win bonus) def. Nick Klein: $10,000
- Ricky Simón: $160,000 (includes $80,000 win bonus) def. Javid Basharat: $30,000
- Austin Vanderford: $30,000 (includes $15,000 win bonus) def. Nikolay Veretennikov: $12,000
- Nursulton Ruziboev: $74,000 (includes $37,000 win bonus) def. Eric McConico: $12,000
- Modestas Bukauskas: $96,000 (includes $48,000 win bonus) def. Raffael Cerqueira: $10,000
