UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber, who is the coach of Song Yadong, has stated that the contract for the Chinese fighter's match against Russian Umar Nurmagomedov has not been signed yet, and he discussed a possible date for the fight.
Earlier reports claimed that the fighters were set to face off on December 14 at UFC on ESPN 63 in Tampa, USA.
Faber said in an interview with the YouTube channel Helen Yee Sports:
We don’t have a date for that yet I don’t think December 14th. I think both Umar and Song are guys that people don’t wanna fight, you know, so they are both willing to step up, so I think that’s a good fight. They’ve been talking about it. I saw all sorts of stuff posting about it. Nothing has been signed. That date has not been agreed upon. If that fight does happen, it likely happens in January. Yeah, that [UFC 311] would be the one that would be the most likely.
Nurmagomedov last stepped into the octagon against Cory Sandhagen in August of this year at UFC on ABC 7. That fight went the full distance and ended in Nurmagomedov's favor by unanimous decision. He boasts a record of 18 wins with no losses.
Yadong's most recent fight was against Petr Yan in March of this year at UFC 299. In that bout, which also went the distance, Song suffered a unanimous decision defeat. His record now stands at 21 wins, 8 losses, 1 draw, and another bout classified as a no contest.