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Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Henry Cejudo is at risk of experiencing a few unwanted firsts at UFC Seattle. With a loss to Song Yadong in Saturday’s main event, Cejudo will find himself on the first three-fight losing streak of his storied career. It would also be the first time he’s lost to an opponent behind him in the rankings (Cejudo currently stands at No. 10 on our list, Song at No. 15). And it could be the first time he’s had the prospect of retirement forced upon him, which could mean it’s the last time we see “Triple C” compete. Cejudo turned 38 two weeks ago, which is well past the athletic peak for most people not named LeBron James or if you’re not a UFC heavyweight. Even the incredibly accomplished Cejudo will have to take a long, long look in the mirror Sunday morning if he fails to have his hand raised yet again since coming out of his first retirement in 2023. Cejudo has already done some broadcasting and podcasting work, so it’s possible he has one foot out the door. It’s on Song to usher him out the rest of the way. A win over Cejudo will do wonders for Song’s championship hopes, especially when you consider he’s still only 27 years old. He’s been searching for that signature victory, with the likes of Cory Sandhagen and Petr Yan denying him entry to the bantamweight penthouse, and defeating a former two-division champion is definitely grounds for reappraisal. In other main card action, middleweight contenders Brendan Allen and Anthony Hernandez meet in a rematch dating all the way back to their LFA days, Rob Font faces the dangerous Jean Matsumoto, 2024 breakout featherweight Jean Silva looks to keep rolling when he fights Melsik Baghdasaryan, and light heavyweight veteran Alonzo Menifield welcomes Julius Walker to the octagon. What: UFC Seattle Where: Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle When: Saturday, Feb. 22. The seven-fight preliminary card begins at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+, followed by a five-fight main card at 9 p.m. ET also on ESPN+. Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong I can’t believe I’m saying this: I think Henry Cejudo has still got it. Enough of it left to win this fight, anyway. Since Cejudo came back, I’ve been as vocal as anyone that he didn’t deserve to be thrown back in the rankings of a stacked division. He kind of proved me wrong in his comeback fight when he took Aljamain Sterling to the limit in a championship fight and was inches away from regaining the title, and you can’t ding him too much for being in the path of the Merab Dvalishvili bulldozer in his next fight. Still, two losses are two losses and I’d seen enough to feel like it wasn’t meant to be for Cejudo this time around. But this matchup makes a lot of sense for him. Skill-wise, Cejudo is still up there with anyone in the division, it’s really the physical question marks that have him positioned as the underdog to Song Yadong. Those questions are substantial though, considering the mileage Cejudo has put on his body as he ticks closer to 40, a nearly inconceivable age at which to be competing in the UFC’s bantamweight division. It’s entirely possible that Song just out-youths Cejudo and knocks him out in the first three rounds. Cejudo still has the cheat code of wrestling to fall back on and that’s how he wins this one. His striking is more than good enough to hang with the quicker Song and if there’s too much heat on the feet, dive for a leg or two, Hank. Song’s best wins are Marlon Vera (incredibly close decision) and Marlon Moraes (which turned out to be Moraes’ fourth loss in career-closing seven-fight skid), so he hasn’t proven he can “win the big one” just yet. Expect another valiant effort from Song that ends just short on the scorecards. And yes, at least one more Cejudo fight after this one. Pick: Cejudo Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez Brendan Allen has been waiting seven years for another shot at Anthony Hernandez, but if it’s revenge he seeks, he’s going to have to keep waiting, Hernandez is on a roll to the top of the middleweight ladder and Allen won’t be the one to stop him. As impressive as both fighters have been since their LFA 32 clash, it’s Hernandez who has the edge in my books. His aggressive grappling and non-stop pressure style are tailor-made for buzzsawing through the 185-pound roster, which includes Allen, a fine offensive fighter who doesn’t have the takedown defense to stifle Hernandez. Allen definitely won’t be intimidated by Hernandez and he has enough grappling chops of his own to make this interesting. Expect several fun scrambles and for Allen to threaten with submissions if Hernandez shows the slightest carelessness in his entries. On the feet, Allen will swing for the fences, leaving open the possibility that he takes Hernandez’s head off with a timely combination. But this is Hernandez’s fight to lose and he knows it. His confidence is at its peak right now, so I’m going with him to wear Allen down and score a submission in the second round. Pick: Hernandez Rob Font vs. Jean Matsumoto This is the trickiest matchup of the main card, as the always resilient Rob Font takes on the fast-rising Jean Matsumoto. Not only does this pit two fighters with vastly different résumés against one another, it’s also happening on short notice, meaning Matsumoto has barely had a week’s notice to prepare for the biggest test of his young career. Like I said, tricky. In my eyes, Matsumoto’s 16-0 record is legit, with just the right smattering of quality minor league competition and step-up opponents that have helped him to improve with every second of cage time. His all-around game has all the makings of a bantamweight that’s going to stick around in the UFC for a long time. You can never count out Font, especially when you see how he’s dealt with younger fighters aiming to take his spot and how well he’s done against the elite of the division, even if he hasn’t found that extra gear needed to join them. His boxing is always on point and his chin is unwavering. He’s poised to hand Matsumoto his first loss. Still, I like what I’ve seen from Matsumoto so far and I’m going with him to get the decision nod, announcing himself as a dark horse contender in a division that is suddenly roomier at the top. Pick: Matsumoto Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan Jean Silva is kind of scary. I don’t know if Silva is a future world champion, but he’s definitely a guy nobody should want to face after seeing what he did to Drew Dober, Charles Jourdain, and Westin Wilson. The Brazilian finisher has no interest in scorecards or the safety of his opponents. Respectfully, I’m sure. Melsik Baghdasaryan has some fine striking chops, so it’s not like this is a total mismatch, but there is no substitute for sheer ferocity, which is why Silva is such a massive favorite. While Baghdasaryan might be content winning a decision, his opponent is looking to remove his face from his face. What can I say? I’m buying into the hype. The Fighting Nerds are quickly developing a reputation as the team to watch and everyone should tune in to see Silva knock Baghdasaryan out on Saturday. Pick: Silva Alonzo Menifield vs. Julius Walker Not to echo my main event pick, but I feel like Alonzo Menifield isn’t as washed as it seems at a glance. Certainly not the point that he should be catching Ls from a six-fight UFC rookie. With respect to Julius Walker, who seems like a nice enough dude that’s happy to be here, this is an enormous leap up in competition for the undefeated fighter. The 25-year-old, 6-foot-4 light heavyweight prospect has looked fine disposing of regional competition, even muscling his way to wins over veterans Myron Dennis and Bevon Lewis, but he hasn’t shown much variety to his game other than tackling his opponents to the mat and bludgeoning them on the ground. Wait, what am I saying? That can take you pretty far at 205 pounds! I just don’t believe Menifield is susceptible to those tactics yet. Walker, disappointingly, has shown little evidence of a jab, so there’s not much he can do with his 81-inch reach other than put out feelers to set up takedowns. Menifield still has good hands, despite what his recent knockout losses say. He’ll keep this one on the feet and deliver a rude awakening to Walker. Menifield by knockout. Pick: Menifield Preliminaries Ibo Aslan def. Ion Cutelaba Andre Fili def. Melquizael Costa Mansur Abdul-Malik def. Nick Klein Javid Basharat def. Ricky Simon Nikolay Veretennikov def. Austin Vanderford Nursulton Ruziboev def. Eric McConico Modestas Bukauskas def. Raffael Cerqueira

Think you can figure out which UFC fighter we’re talking about? You’ll get five clues to figure him out. We’re back for another day of the SB Nation UFC in-5 daily trivia game. Game instructions are at the bottom if you’re new to the game! Feel free to share your results in the comments and feedback in this Google Form. Today’s UFC in-5 game If you can’t see the game due to Apple News or another service, click this game article. Previous games Friday, February 21Thursday, February 20Wednesday, February 19 Play more SB Nation in-5 trivia games NFL in-5MLB in-5 The goal of the game is to guess the correct random UFC fighter player with the help of up to five clues. We’ll mix in BOTH ACTIVE AND RETIRED FIGHTERS. It won’t be easy to figure it out in one or two guesses, but some of you might be able to nail it. It will be a mix of well-known players and some “that guys” that we haven’t thought of in some time. The game will appear in slot #3 of the MMA Fighting layout each morning, with occasional movement later in the day. After you correctly guess the player, you can click “Share Results” to share how you did down in the comments and on social media.

Artur Beterbiev | Photo by Mark Robinson/Getty Images “The Last Crescendo” has been hyped as one of the biggest boxing cards in history and while it’s taken a few hits, a massive rematch is still set to cap off Saturday’s event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol battled to a virtual standstill in their first fight this past October, though two of the judges saw fit to score it for Beterbiev, a verdict that wasn’t without controversy. So there was only one option: run it back! Unfortunately for fight fans, a stacked lineup has crumbled over the past few days as WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson lost opponent Floyd Schofield (replaced by Josh Padley) and Joseph Parker now faces Martin Bakole instead of Daniel Dubois after Dubois withdrew due to illness. We press on—and with apologies to Padley—we’re focusing on two of the most compelling fights atop the card, Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 and Parker vs. Bakole. MMA Fighting’s Alexander K. Lee and Jed Meshew give their picks for who leaves Saudi Arabia with a statement victory to kick off their 2025 campaigns. Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 Meshew: I gotta be honest: this is the fight I’m most looking forward to this weekend, MMA included. The first fight was so close and the action was so tightly wound, I’ll be shocked if this one isn’t also an excellent matchup. The first fight was a classic boxing encounter between a smooth technician and a force of nature. Dmitry Bivol’s footwork and jab let him get out to an early lead as he played matador against Artur Beterbiev, but then Beterbiev started bringing his physicality to bear on Bivol, plowing through the jab to land his power shots. Those started to take a toll on Bivol, who responded in kind by committing to his own power shots to get Beterbiev to back off. Back and forth the adjustments went for 12 rounds, and in the end I scored the bout a draw at 114-114. I doubt we end up with a draw this time, around so I guess I’ll pick Beterbiev to edge out another close one. Bivol is probably the “superior boxer,” but Beterbiev brings too many physical advantages to this matchup. Every time he hit Bivol in the first fight, even if he blocked, it would physically move him. Bivol isn’t working with the same sort of force and it makes his road to success much more difficult. Lee: In what proved to be a delightful clash of styles the first time around, give me the power puncher to win again in the rematch. Bivol used his footwork and size to consistently walk Beterbiev down in the first fight and there’s no reason to think he can’t do the same for another 12 rounds. There’s also no reason to think Beterbiev’s heavier punches won’t be the difference again. When Beterbiev is able to string together combinations in rhythm with his more telegraphed haymakers, he’s so dangerous, and even the aggressive Bivol had to back off at times in their previous encounter. Adjustments will be key for Bivol to put the exclamation points on close rounds that went to Beterbiev last time. I’ll go a step further than Jed and not only pick Beterbiev to win, I’m picking my fellow Canadian to score a knockout. He’ll drop a few rounds early on as he patiently works to figure out Bivol’s timing before dropping Beterbiev in one of the middle frames and then finishing before the tenth. Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole Lee: It’s definitely unfortunate we lost Daniel Dubois for this one, though Turki Alalshikh’s UFC-esque ability to find a late replacement is impressive, especially one as fun as Martin Bakole. No, Bakole hasn’t exactly slayed a murderer’s row of opponents to earn this opportunity, but the best ability is availability and seeing him jump on this opportunity with nothing to lose is undeniably intriguing. Is he a hidden gem ready to pull off a shocking upset or will it just be business as usual for Joseph Parker as he marches towards a desired title fight with Oleksandr Usyk? Unfortunately for you chaos seekers, this one should play out as expected, with the more seasoned Parker controlling much of the action as Bakole adventurously hunts for a knockout. Now, it’s not as if Parker can just cruise because it wasn’t all that long ago that Zhilei Zhang was putting him on his backside, but there are levels to this and I’m comfortable placing Zhang well above Bakole. I also doubt Parker will want to take too many chances in this one, so he’ll out-tech Bakole for 12 rounds and win a decision that will have its fair share of hairy moments for the New Zealand veteran. Meshew: Sooooooo, what to make of this one? Parker has been steadily rising up the ranks with high-profile wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhang, and was hoping to earn a shot at Usyk by beating Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title. Now he gets to keep his WBO interim belt, but a possible fight with Usyk is very much in question. Not the least of which because Bakole is no joke. Bakole has been wanting to get a big opportunity for a while now and while circumstances are less than ideal, the Congolese fighter brings the sort of power to a fight that can change things quickly. If Bakole wasn’t stepping in under such wild circumstances, I might give him a chance in this one. Parker is faster and much more technical, but power is the great equalizer. That being said, I’m not sure how ready Bakole is to fight a hard 10 rounds and I suspect Parker may just need to avoid any slip-ups early, which he’s more than capable of doing. Parker by late round stoppage.

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol will clash in the Last Crescendo main event. | Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images The Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol 2 live stream online will features two of the early fights on The Last Crescendo fight card Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The portion of this card is as follows: Ziyad Almaayouf vs. Jonatas Oliveira Mohammed Alakel vs. Engel Gomez The prelims begin at 9:30 a.m. ET, and each fight will be six rounds. After this portion of the card, the Beterbiev vs. Bivol 2 pay-per-view will begin at 10:30 a.m. ET on DAZN and PPV.com. The portion of this card is as follows: Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole Shakur Stevenson vs. Josh Padley Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith In the main event, undefeated Artur Beterbiev (21-0) tries to hand Dmitry Bivol (23-1) his second career loss with the undisputed light heavyweight championship on the line.

Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol had a memorable first encounter. | Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images The Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol full fight video showcases the memorable clash between the two light heavyweight legends this past fall. In that showdown, Beterbiev defeated Bivol via majority decision. The three judges saw the fight 114-114, 115-113, 116-112 in the favor of Beterbiev on Oct. 12, 2024, at Freedom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, making the Russian-Canadian the first undisputed light heavyweight champion in 22 years since Roy Jones Jr. in 2002. See what Beterbiev and Bivol thought of their first fight below. Artur Beterbiev and Dmitry Bivol clash again in the main event of “The Last Crescendo” on Saturday evening on DAZN and PPV.com pay-per-view. The Last Crescendo pay-per-view main card, which begins at 10:30 a.m. ET, is as follows: Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol Joseph Parker vs. Martin Bakole Shakur Stevenson vs. Josh Padley Carlos Adames vs. Hamzah Sheeraz Vergil Ortiz Jr. vs. Israil Madrimov Zhilei Zhang vs. Agit Kabayel Joshua Buatsi vs. Callum Smith