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Umar's Shocking Fall, Chimaev's Callouts, and a UFC 331 Preview

Umar Nurmagomedov's shocking knockout loss is definitely a big talking point, Khamzat Chimaev has reportedly named some targets, and Zabit Magomedsharipov resurfaces after nearly seven years away.

Umar's Shocking Fall, Chimaev's Callouts, and a UFC 331 Preview

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There's a lot to unpack after Umar Nurmagomedov's first knockout loss, and the middleweight and featherweight rumor mills are both heating up. Let's get into it.

Umar's Stunning KO Loss Still Sinking In

Umar Nurmagomedov absorbed the first knockout loss of his career this past week, falling to massive underdog Song Yadong in their UFC Shanghai main event. Javier Mendez, who trains Umar at AKA, pointed to a specific mistake that opened the door for Song's finishing shot. Umar himself isn't wallowing in it, sending a defiant message afterward that made clear he's already looking forward instead of back. Henry Cejudo pushed back hard on the result too, arguing that Umar beats Song nine times out of ten if they run it back.

Chimaev Calls His Shots, Borralho Answers

Khamzat Chimaev is already plotting his next move and named four potential targets for his return, and Caio Borralho was the one who stepped up to answer the callout. Borralho didn't just accept the challenge, though, he also made clear he thinks Chimaev hasn't earned a crack at the middleweight title yet. On top of that, Borralho is publicly campaigning for a fight at UFC 334 after his scheduled bout with Joe Pyfer at UFC 330 fell apart when he got hurt. He's the number six ranked middleweight in the promotion and clearly wants back in the mix soon.

Tsarukyan Doesn't See Topuria Vs. Pimblett Happening Soon

Arman Tsarukyan waded into one of the sport's most-wanted grudge matches, explaining why he doesn't think the UFC will book Ilia Topuria against Paddy Pimblett anytime soon despite their ongoing beef. It's the kind of fight fans keep clamoring for, but Tsarukyan's read on the business side suggests the promotion has other priorities before it makes sense to pull the trigger. Worth remembering Tsarukyan has his own stake in how the lightweight and featherweight landscapes shake out, so his read carries some weight.

Prochazka Teases A New Challenge

Jiri Prochazka is signaling that his UFC return is finally taking shape, teasing a new challenge without naming exactly who's waiting on the other side of the cage. It's a notable tease given how much the light heavyweight division has shuffled since he was last in there.

Around The Cage

Zabit Magomedsharipov made a surprise reappearance after nearly seven years away from competition, beating current UFC top ten featherweight Youssef Zalal in a grappling match at the twenty second Absolute Championship of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu event. It's a striking result given how long Zabit has been out of the sport entirely. Elsewhere, Dana White and Javier Mendez are publicly split on how to read Ian Garry's performance against Islam Makhachev, with White calling Garry too passive while Mendez saw something closer to genius in the same fight.

From the community

Over on r/MMA, fans are talking about this: Khamzat Chimaev calls for a fight against someone in the top 5.

Sources

Every source behind today's roundup (14)

We summarize the day's news in our own words. Full credit to the outlets below for the original reporting, click through to read their work:

Open Scoring MMA is a daily AI-produced MMA and UFC news podcast. Listen to today's episode, read the full Feed, or get every episode by email.

Episode transcript

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Welcome to Open Scoring MMA. This is episode 75 for September 1st, 2026, your daily look at what's happening now and next across the world of MMA and UFC. DUKE: We gotta start in Shanghai, Nora, because nobody saw this coming.
NORA: Umar Nurmagomedov, stopped by Song Yadong in the second round with an uppercut. That's his first knockout loss ever.
DUKE: First one. Ever.
NORA: And remember, the only real blemish on his record before this was a competitive title fight against Merab Dvalishvili. He was supposed to be next in line again.
DUKE: Song Yadong was a huge underdog going in too.
NORA: A massive one. This flips the bantamweight picture on its head.
DUKE: Javier Mendez, Umar's own coach, is out here saying he spotted the exact mistake that got him caught.
NORA: He said he was genuinely stunned by the finish, and he's already pointing to one specific error in the pocket that opened the door.
DUKE: That's rough, hearing that from your own corner.
NORA: It is, but it's also useful. If Mendez can isolate it on tape, that's something they fix before the next camp.
DUKE: Henry Cejudo's take is wild though. He's saying Umar beats Song Yadong nine out of ten times.
NORA: Calling it a lucky shot, basically.
DUKE: You buy that?
NORA: I get the instinct, one punch can change everything. But you don't get to erase a finish just because the guy was the betting underdog.
DUKE: Fair. And Umar himself isn't sulking about it either, from what's coming out of camp.
NORA: No, he's already framing this as a defiant one, not dwelling on the first knockout loss of his career. That tells you he still sees himself as a title threat.
DUKE: Good, because bantamweight needs him healthy and hungry.
NORA: While we're on Makhachev's side of the ledger, there's a real disagreement brewing over Ian Garry too.
DUKE: Right, Dana White thought Garry was too passive against Islam Makhachev.
NORA: And Mendez straight up disagrees, he called what Garry did against Makhachev something closer to genius.
DUKE: That's a massive gap in read between the boss and one of the sport's most respected coaches.
NORA: It usually comes down to what you value, output versus survival. White wants aggression on the cards, Mendez values a guy who didn't get run over by the best fighter alive.
DUKE: Now here's a story that stopped me in my tracks. Zabit Magomedsharipov is back.
NORA: Almost seven years since his last UFC octagon appearance, and he just competed again, last Sunday, at a Brazilian jiu jitsu event.
DUKE: And he didn't just show up, he beat Youssef Zalal.
NORA: Who's reportedly a top ten featherweight in the Ultimate. In a pure grappling duel.
DUKE: For a guy who's been out of the game that long to go beat a ranked fighter on the mats, that's not nothing.
NORA: It reignites every question about whether he ever comes back to the cage. He was one of the most gifted featherweights we'd ever seen before he disappeared.
DUKE: Speaking of comebacks, Jiri Prochazka is teasing something too.
NORA: He's signaling his UFC return is taking shape, calling it a new challenge.
DUKE: No name attached yet, but for a former champion who's had that kind of chaos in his career, any hint he's locking something in is worth tracking.
NORA: Especially at light heavyweight, where the picture keeps shifting every few months.
DUKE: Alright, let's get into the middleweight drama, because Caio Borralho isn't holding back.
NORA: He straight up said Khamzat Chimaev doesn't deserve a title shot right now.
DUKE: Strong words from the number six ranked middleweight in the Meta UFC Rankings.
NORA: And Borralho's not just talking, he's calling for a fight at UFC 334, to get himself back in that picture.
DUKE: Right, UFC 334. He was supposed to fight Joe Pyfer at UFC 330 but had to pull out injured.
NORA: Now he's healthy and putting his name out there again.
DUKE: And get this, Chimaev actually named four UFC targets, and Borralho answered the call directly.
NORA: So Borralho's not just talking about deserving it, he's volunteering to be the one that settles it in the cage.
DUKE: That's exactly how you make yourself impossible to ignore in a division this stacked.
DUKE: And that's the tension right there, everybody wants Chimaev in with a ranked name, but nobody wants to be the name that eats the loss.
NORA: Borralho just made himself the guy willing to find out.
DUKE: Now let's talk about the fight everybody actually wants, and the guy explaining why we're not getting it.
NORA: Arman Tsarukyan says he doesn't expect the UFC to make Ilia Topuria versus Paddy Pimblett anytime soon.
DUKE: Come on, that's the biggest fight in the sport right now! Paddy's been calling for it, the beef is right there.
NORA: Tsarukyan's basically saying business logic keeps them apart for now, both guys are bigger stars staying unbeaten and building than they are rushing to settle it.
DUKE: I get the business angle, but as a fan, man, I want the Baddy in there with Topuria sooner rather than later.
NORA: The beef isn't going anywhere either way, if anything delaying it just raises the number when it finally happens.
DUKE: A few quicker hits before we get to the cards. There's a UFC hopeful, Aboubakar Younousov, who says his own surname cost him a shot.
NORA: He's saying Nathaniel Wood turned down a matchup with him because of the ov ending on his name.
DUKE: That's a wild excuse to blame for missing a UFC debut.
NORA: It's a strange one, but it tells you how cautious guys get with a name that signals a certain style of opponent before they've even watched the tape.
DUKE: And the USADA stories are always good for a laugh. Former titleholders were sharing the wildest places testers have tracked them down.
NORA: No specifics we can put a pin in, but it's a good reminder these guys get found anywhere, anytime, no notice.
DUKE: That's the job. Now, this one's a mess. At the Duel Arena event in Orlando, UFC middleweight Sedriques Dumas actually got into it with a fan dressed as the Joker.
NORA: Outside the cage, with a fight already scheduled for him that night, and there were also last minute changes to that main card.
DUKE: A UFC contracted fighter brawling with a costumed fan before he's even competed, that's chaos.
NORA: It's the kind of story that follows a guy, fair or not, into how promoters view him going forward.
DUKE: Let's pivot to what's actually on deck. Tonight, Dana White's Contender Series is back, season ten, week four.
NORA: We're hearing about some of the matchups for this week's Contender Series.
DUKE: Contender Series nights are always a gamble, somebody's walking away with a contract and somebody's night ends in disappointment.
NORA: And week five is already locked for September eighth, with some of the matchups for that card also starting to circulate.
DUKE: Then this Saturday, September fifth, UFC Fight Night rolls in with Dan Hooker against Salahdine Parnasse in the main event.
NORA: Hooker's never in a boring fight, and Parnasse brings that kind of unorthodox output that makes for chaos.
DUKE: After that, September twelfth, it's Noche UFC, with Jean Silva versus Jose Miguel Delgado headlining.
NORA: Moreno on that card always draws a big crowd given the timing around Mexican Independence Day weekend.
NORA: That's a rematch, Van versus Pantoja two, in the main event.
DUKE: Alright, time for the pick of the week. Nora, talk to me about the betting lines.
NORA: Losene Keita is a minus three forty five favorite. We've got Keita winning it, around eighty one percent.
DUKE: And the betting line?
NORA: Implies about seventy five percent. So we're sitting well above the market on this one.
DUKE: Okay, so why do we like him that much more than the books do?
NORA: Keita's undefeated inside Oktagon, an eleven and one record overall, and that momentum's real.
DUKE: Eleven and one is not a small sample.
NORA: It isn't. And he's got a high finishing rate, a lot of it by knockout or TKO. That's real power showing up fight after fight.
DUKE: What about his opponent?
NORA: Honestly, his recent form is murky, we don't have great data on him, and his finishing threat is basically unknown to the model.
DUKE: So it's less that his opponent's bad and more that Keita's just proven and dangerous.
NORA: Exactly. This is a genuine value pick for us, we like it more than the line does.
DUKE: Losene Keita it is.
NORA: Losene Keita.
DUKE: Alright, before we go, I want to check the model's actual form, because I don't think you get to just win the vibe war every week.
NORA: Fair, our record's fifty seven and seventeen, that's a hit rate of point seven seven.
DUKE: And the market?
NORA: Point seven eight nine. So no, we are not beating the market straight up right now.
DUKE: I love that you just admit that.
NORA: Well, look at the value picks specifically, eleven and one. That's where the model actually earns its keep.
DUKE: So broad strokes, market's sharper, but when we find a real gap, we're hitting almost every time.
NORA: That's the honest version, yeah.
DUKE: And for what it's worth, on our own personal picks, I'm one and one, you're oh and one.
NORA: Don't remind me.
DUKE: I'm just saying, the eye test's undefeated so far this season.
NORA: One and one is not undefeated, Duke.
DUKE: Details.
NORA: We'll let the tape keep score on that one.
DUKE: Alright, that's the show. Big fights on the horizon, a title picture heating up, and Umar Nurmagomedov with something to prove.
NORA: We'll be back tomorrow with more.
Before you go, two quick things. Check out our free Fight Tracker at tracker dot open scoring m m a dot com, with every upcoming UFC and PFL card, live odds, and where to watch, all in one place. And follow us on YouTube, just search Open Scoring MMA, for breaking news alerts, fight breakdowns, and videos you won't get here on the feed. That's it for today's Open Scoring MMA. Keep your hands up, and we'll see you next time.