A lot of the focus around this Saturday night's UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Song event will be centred around the main event. Former 2-weight UFC champion Henry Cejudo (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is still on the hunt for his first win since coming out of retirement last year, and the former Olympic gold medallist will take on Song Yadong (21-8-1 MMA, 10-3-1 UFC) in a 5-round main event at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington.
Ranked middleweights Brendan Allen (24-6 MMA, 12-3 UFC) and Anthony "Fluffy" Hernandez (13-2 MMA, 7-2 UFC) will meet for the second time in the co-main event, while exciting Brazilian stars Jean Matsumoto (16-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) and Jean Silva (14-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) will also be in action as they put their unbeaten UFC records on the line against Rob Font and Melsik Baghdasaryan respectively.
Outside of the main card, there are a handful of interesting matchups for fans to look out for. Let's take a look at the best 3 fights on the UFC Seattle preliminary card.
Ion Cutelaba vs. Ibo Aslan (205 lbs)
A mainstay of the UFC light heavyweight division since his signing in 2016, Ion Cutelaba (18-10-1 MMA, 7-9-1 UFC) is set to square off against rising Turkish star Ibo Aslan (14-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) in the featured bout on Saturday's prelims.
While Cutelaba has picked up some noteable wins during his UFC tenure (Tanner Boser and Khalil Rountree Jr. among them), he has lost 4 of his last 6 fights and may be feeling the pressure of facing the "next big thing" at 205 lbs.
Aslan has finished all 14 of his professional wins by KO/TKO and "The Last Ottoman" put away both Anton Turkalj and Raffael Cerqueira in his first 2 outings in the Octagon in 2024. A win over an established name such as Cutelaba would be massive for the 28-year-old.
Ricky Simon vs. Javid Basharat (135 lbs)
Bantamweight veteran Ricky Simon (20-6 MMA, 8-5 UFC) could also be feeling a little hot under the collar heading into UFC Seattle. The former LFA champion made his debut inside the Octagon back in 2018 where he picked up a win over current UFC champion Merab Dvalishvili, and he has also beaten established names such as Raphael Assuncao and Ray Borg over the past few years.
Simon looks to have fallen on hard times recently however, and after losing his last 3 fights against Song Yadong, Mario Bautista and Vinicius Oliveira, he may well have been hoping for an easier outing this evening in order to get back some of that mojo he had accrued in his early UFC career.
Unfortunately, there's no such thing as an easy fight in the UFC, and the impressive Javid Basharat (14-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) awaits Simon inside the Octagon this weekend.
The Afghan won his opening 3 bouts in the organization back in 2023 but suffered his first loss against Aiemann Zahabi in his last outing almost a year ago.
Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira (205 lbs)
Raffael Cerqueira (14-1 MMA, 0-1) never really got going in his UFC debut in October. The Brazilian was stopped by the aforementioned Ibo Aslan after just 50 seconds at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi and when he gets a 2nd opportunity to kickstart his UFC career this weekend he will be eager to recapture some of the form that saw him string together 4 1st-round finishes prior to signing with the UFC.
Former Cage Warriors champion Modestas Bukauskas (16-6 MMA, 4-4 UFC) awaits Cerqueira, having won 3 of his 4 fights since re-signing with the UFC in February of 2023.
