Former champ Henry Cejudo targeted to headline UFC Seattle vs. Song Yadong

Henry Cejudo has his next UFC assignment.

A former UFC bantamweight champion, Cejudo (16-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) is targeted to return vs. Song Yadong (21-8-1 MMA, 10-3-1 UFC) in a main event bout at UFC Fight Night 252. The event takes place Feb. 22 at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.

Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie that verbal agreements are in place with contracts expected to be issued in the coming days. The people asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. X user @realkevin first reported the bout.

Cejudo, 37, will look to snap a two-fight skid. The back-to-back losses to Aljamain Sterling and Merab Dvalishvili came following the conclusion of a three-year "retirement" hiatus, prior to which Cejudo vacated the promotion's bantamweight title.

Yadong, 27, also looks to reenter the win column. He most recently competed this past March, when he lost a unanimous decision to Petr Yan. The defeat snapped a two-fight winning streak of victories over Ricky Simon and Chris Gutierrez.

With the addition, the UFC Fight Night 252 lineup includes:

• Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong

• Dominick Cruz vs. Rob Font

• Macy Chiasson vs. Ketlen Vieira

• Edson Barboza vs. Steve Garcia

• Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez

• Ibo Aslan vs. Ion Cutelaba

• Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev

• Islam Dulatov vs. Adam Fugitt

• Melsik Baghdasaryan vs. Jean Silva

• Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira

• Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Antonio Trocoli

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 252.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Former champ Henry Cejudo targeted to headline UFC Seattle vs. Song Yadong