Sean O'Malley vs. Song Yadong, UFC 324

The first UFC pay-per-view event of the Paramount era features a stacked undercard with former champions and rising stars.

UFC 324 takes place Jan. 24 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. A vacant lightweight title fight between Justin Gaethje and Paddy Pimblett will headline the event. The co-feature will be a women's bantamweight title superfight between Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes. While the top two fights are certified bangers, the heat continues throughout the undercard.

Former men's bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley returns to action to take on Song Yadong. O'Malley (18-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) will look to get back on track after back-to-back title fight losses to current champion Merab Dvalishvili. Song (22-8-1 MMA, 11-3-1 UFC) returns after an 11-month absence following a technical decision win over former champ Henry Cejudo.

Also on the main card is a women's flyweight matchup between former UFC titleholders Alexa Grasso and Rose Namajunas. Grasso (16-5-1 MMA, 8-5-1 UFC) will aim to return to the win column for the first time since winning the women's 125-pound title at UFC 285. She has since gone 0-2-1. Former women's strawweight champ Namajunas (14-7 MMA, 12-6 UFC) looks to keep the momentum alive after a unanimous decision win over Miranda Maverick in June.

Other matchups confirmed for UFC 324 include Arnold Allen (20-3 MMA, 11-2 UFC) vs. Jean Silva (16-3 MMA, 5-1 UFC), Umar Nurmagomedov (19-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) vs. Deiveson Figueiredo (25-5-1 MMA, 14-5-1 UFC), Modestas Bukauskas (19-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) vs. Nikita Krylov (30-11 MMA, 11-9 UFC), and Ateba Gautier (9-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) vs. Andrey Pulayev (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC).

The current UFC 324 lineup includes:

  • Justin Gaethje vs. Paddy Pimblett – for interim lightweight title
  • Kayla Harrison vs. Amanda Nunes – for women's bantamweight title
  • Sean O'Malley vs. Song Yadong
  • Arnold Allen vs. Jean Silva
  • Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
  • Modestas Bukauskas vs. Nikita Krylov
  • Alexa Grasso vs. Rose Namajunas
  • Ateba Gautier vs. Andrey Pulayev

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC 324 fight card: Sean O'Malley returns, ex-women's champs collide

Reporting by Matthew Wells, MMA Junkie / MMA Junkie

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