'I will fix my mistakes and come back'

Cormier: 'Getting hit behind the ear — you can't withstand that'

Chinese bantamweight fighter Song Ya-dong (left) pulls off a massive upset, knocking out top contender Umar Nurmagomedov in the second round at UFC Fight Night in Shanghai on Saturday. [UFC]
Chinese bantamweight fighter Song Ya-dong (left) pulls off a massive upset, knocking out top contender Umar Nurmagomedov in the second round at UFC Fight Night in Shanghai on Saturday. [UFC]

Umar Nurmagomedov, who suffered a stunning upset loss to Chinese UFC star Song Ya-dong, vowed to bounce back just one day after the defeat.

Song, ranked No. 6 in the UFC bantamweight division, knocked out No. 3-ranked Umar Nurmagomedov (30, Russia) with a right uppercut at 1 minute 48 seconds of the second round in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Nurmagomedov vs. Song Ya-dong, held Saturday (Korean Standard Time) at the Pudong Development Bank Oriental Sports Center in Shanghai, China.

The result is being hailed as one of the biggest upsets in recent UFC history, comparable to Sean Strickland's win over Hamzat Chimaev for the middleweight title in May and Justin Gaethje's victory over Ilia Topuria for the lightweight crown in June. Song delivered the result in front of a crowd cheering overwhelmingly for his opponent, exceeding all expectations for the event's marquee value. The win catapults him to the top tier of the division, putting him in immediate contention for a title shot.

Nurmagomedov took to social media Sunday, writing, "I'm OK. I sincerely thank everyone for the support. I will fix my mistakes and come back." Song responded to the post with a simple prayer-hands emoji.

Nurmagomedov then replied to Song's comment with a brief message of his own: "Champion, congratulations, enjoy it."

Meanwhile, UFC legend Daniel Cormier analyzed the knockout on his YouTube channel, breaking down the moment Nurmagomedov went unconscious on the canvas. The finishing blow was an uppercut Song threw as a counter to a takedown attempt — but rather than landing squarely on the chin as such punches typically do, it grazed the side of Nurmagomedov's head and caught him behind the ear, dropping him instantly.

"Song's punch grazed the side of Umar's head, and that is one of the worst places you can get hit," Cormier said. "We get punched in the chin so many times that we can withstand it to a certain degree. But when you get hit there and your equilibrium gets disrupted and you go down, your body just completely shuts off. That's exactly what happened to Umar today."


yjc@heraldcorp.com