PROSPECT : Song Yadong
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC
Song Yadong entered the UFC at 19 years old, with a record of 10 wins and three losses. Two years later, the young Chinese prospect is 4-0 in the UFC and under the guidance of one of the greatest fighter in divisional history - hall of famer Urijah Faber.
Song started his pro MMA career in China, when he was only fifteen years old. Nowadays he lives in Sacramento and trains full time at Team Alpha Male where he’s a very well respected teammate of Andre Fili and former UFC bantamweight world champion, Cody Garbrandt.
Next Saturday he will face the biggest challenge of his career when he takes on #9 Cody Stamman (18-2) on the main card of UFC on ESPN 7. Now is the perfect opportunity to go back to his four previous fights and see what makes Yadong successful, and to try and see how far he can go.
UFC Debut
Song made his UFC debut in November 2017 in Shanghai when he faced, on short notice, Bharat Khandare (5-2). This fight was at featherweight, but Song returned to his natural bantamweight class in his next bout.
At 5’8 and weighing in at 145 pounds, Song was (and still is) thickly muscled with dense legs and calves. He has a shorter reach for the division (67 inches) - which is not necessarily a bad thing - but he is built like a fighter from Team Alpha Male, the team he will join after this performance. Urijah Faber was in Shanghai for that UFC event, evidently he was impressed by the young stud.
Song started that fight with a lot of confidence, opening with a series of round kicks. Even if they didn’t land, they helped him pressure his opponent. Khandare has a very lanky body compared to Song and liked to throw that long 1-2 the same way Michael Johnson does. He covers a lot of distance with it, but unfortunately he is not blessed with Michael Johnson’s speed. Song avoided his combinations with ease. He was either out of the way as soon as Khandare threw the jab or he would parry the jab and slip the right hand.
What impressed me in the opening minutes of the fight was Song’s composure. He was calm and patient after his kicking sequence at the beginning of the fight. One minute in, Song already showed that he’s adept at cutting the octagon and that he had much quicker feet than his opponent. Khandare started wide shots, like a looping right hand, to get some space but Song calmly ducked under the punch and landed his own straight right hand, which seems to have quite some pop behind it, as it knocked Khandare off balance.
Song appears very comfortable pressing his opponent, and he’s not throwing recklessly. He’s very accurate with his punches so even if his volume is low, he’s still landing a great deal. He did a decent job at kicking Khandare’s lead leg, too.
The ending sequence of that fight really happens in two parts. Song was perfect in both.
After four minutes into Round 1, Song landed a big overhand right that knocked down Khandare. The setup was classic. He feinted the jab, saw the opening and landed a bomb that confirmed my impression that he had good power in his right hand. It’s quite impressive how much distance Song covered in less than a second. His footwork really was excellent in this one.
Please focus your attention on Song’s left foot. When he starts this sequence, his foot is just next to the Monster Energy logo. A second later it’s on the same line as Khandare’s left foot. What Song did is as he was bouncing in and out he stayed on his left foot’s toes one more time and started throwing his right hand while his left foot was still stepping in. Most fighters would have thrown that right hand after the second left step but by staying on his toes and having good balance he managed to cover even more distance by adding another step. It helps that he’s fast, too.
After being knocked down, Khandare went for a takedown but Yadong reacted well, sprawling and getting to his front choke. His opponent didn’t fight the hands and instead tried in one last effort to push on his legs to get the takedown but he was stopped again by Song. Khandare tapped out.
Even though he wasn’t training at Team Alpha Male back then, this is a classic Team Alpha Male finish, rock and choke. It made sense that Urijah Faber saw potential in Song Yadong following this performance.
Yes, the opponent wasn’t much, but Yadong passed his UFC debut with flying colors.
TEAM ALPHA MALE
Song entered his second UFC fight as the new Team Alpha Male member and with Urijah Faber in his corner. This was his UFC bantamweight debut against a much better opponent. Felipe Arantes was 18-9 (5-5-1 in the UFC) and fought the likes of Andre Fili and Josh Emmett, so he was well known to the Alpha Male team.
As soon as the fight started it was clear that Song once again had the speed advantage, while Arantes had a six inch reach advantage. Song wasn’t bothered by it at all. This time the Chinese athlete fought at a much higher pace with a lot of volume, mixing it up well between the body and the head and nailing counter punches after slipping Felipe’s jab. Yadong displayed a full arsenal from straight punches to hooks and leg kicks, but what really was impressive in that contest was his top control game.
In the middle of Round 1, Arantes ended up on his back after throwing a head kick, and Song had no fear in join the fight on the ground with the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu brown belt. He quickly grabbed Felipe’s right leg and passed by throwing some big punches from the top. After making Felipe cover up, Song stayed in the half guard of the Brazilian and kept doing damage. Yadong completely dominated that first round.
Yadong opened Round 2 running towards Felipe, throwing a head kick, a right hook and spinning back kick, but Felipe countered it and both men brawled for a few seconds. It was the Chinese fighter who won that small sequence due to his capacity to fight on the backfoot. Song was able to duck under Felipe’s hook, pivot and land a big right hand that convinced the Brazilian to avoid engaging in any more brawls.
In the future, that could be a bad habit for Song. He is fighting in one the most stacked divisions in the UFC (The most stacked, in my opinion) where the top five is full of killers. Those adrenaline rushes or this desire to brawl could end up costing him rounds against top wrestlers or get him hurt badly by other dangerous strikers.
Song’s takedown defense seems very good, he has great reaction time and he’s also strong enough to counter takedown with underhooks. At this point, however, his opponent always shot with bad set ups.
Yadong spent most the round dominating Arantes on the ground on top, taking his back, and landing tons of punches and elbows. The assault slowed when Song went for an arm triangle choke that Arantes defended by grabbing his own leg. Song let go, but it was a complete domination from the youngest fighter in the UFC roster.
Twenty seconds before the end of Round 2 the statistics read 98 strikes to 16 in favor of Yadong. It only took only one more strike for Song to finish the fight, they were clinching against the fence when he landed a big elbow to the side of the face that floored the Brazilian.
Power. Song Yadong definitely has some power. Two fights in the UFC, two finishes and two Performance of the Night bonuses for the young prospect so far.
His next fight still took place in China, he faced Vince Morales, a veteran of Dana White’s Contender Series who stepped in on short notice to fight Yadong. This fight went the distance, surprisingly. Morales fought cautiously, using his endurance to get on his bike and stick and move while Song was waiting for him. He wasn’t able to cut the octagon, unlike in his previous victories.
Song followed Morales too much and never really managed to get him in big trouble. Song won every round for sure, but the first two rounds showed Yadong’s inexperience a little, he never kicked Morales’ leg consistently and rarely went to the body. Instead, he followed Morales all fight long looking for one big punch or big kick (he did land a beautiful spinning back kick to the liver) but most of them got blocked or were slipped by Morales, who despite losing 30-27, did well for himself. He won his next UFC fight.
The third round was a much better round for the Chinese fighter. Down on the cards, Morales fought more aggressively, which played out well for Song who was much better in the pocket than his brave opponent. Yadong slips punches very well and his counters are quite creative and powerful. He tends to parry his opponent’s jab with his right hand a bit too much which makes him vulnerable to a jab-left hook, but apart from that he’s very dangerous on the inside. I don’t see many bantamweight who’d like to play that game with him.
What Yadong did that I really like is that he used Morales’ aggression in Round 3 to hit a takedown. It was pretty slick and well executed.
Song saw Morales switching his stance ready to move forward and changed his level to take him down at ease.
First Fight In America
July 6th, 2019, Song fought #13 ranked Alejandro Perez (21-7-1) at UFC 239. It was his first fight in the USA, on the prelims of a big PPV no less.
Alejandro is known for his toughness and recovery, but Yadong won the fight by knockout, two minutes and four second in the first round. Song is the first fighter to knock out Alejandro Perez in the UFC. It was a big moment for the Chinese prospect, who won his third Performance of the Night bonus in only four fights.
Alejandro threw a naked inside leg kick without a set up and his hands down. Yadong saw it coming from a mile away and that’s where he shines, using his amazing reflexes and his money right hand. Song’s power is a problem. When Alejandro’s kick connected, Song’s feet were in position and his right hand was already thrown.
Song Yadong is only twenty one years old, but he already has seventeen pro fights under his belt. From what I’ve seen so far, he really deserves to be called a prospect. The bantamweight division is stacked, so I don’t know if he’ll get to be in the same conversation as the elite of the division in the next year, but he definitely has what it takes to become a very successful fighter in this division.
In his next fight he’ll face Cody Stamman, #9 in the world. He’s a solid wrestler and a respected fighter but it’s clearly a fight that Yadong can win. I’d say that Song is still a very raw product with obvious qualities such as his reaction time, his athleticism, his balance. He has very good boxing and he seems to be becoming a decent wrestler. His cardio seemed to hold pretty well in his fight with Morales. He’s also quite an entertainer, he likes to play with the crowd which often gets the audience to cheer him on. I like that he trains closely with Urijah Faber at Team Alpha Male, I think it’s a very good spot for him where his grappling skills should improve year by year. Plus, Alpha Male’s fighters are always in tremendous shape and created a lot of wrestler-boxer contenders through the years.
Yadong does need a more disciplined and consistent kicking game. His kicks are good but he doesn’t really set them up and mostly uses them as big significant strikes. He also needs to punch the body more. So far, that’s something he’s barely done in his UFC career. His clinch game hasn’t been tested at all (he crushed Arantes there) but Song is more willing to take a step back and stay in punching range than engage in the clinch.
I believe Song will beat Stamman and make a statement Saturday, he’s much bigger than him and I think his athleticism will save him from getting taken down or held down early in the fight. His striking is much better and more dangerous than the American’s. I hope the UFC won’t rush Song even if he wins, he definitely needs to fight a lot and often to get rounds in. So far he hasn’t lost a round in the UFC.
Song definitely has the profile to be in a close fight against old crafty veterans like Munhoz or Assuncao, that despite the result would make him learn a lot. But first things first, let’s see how he’ll deal with Cody Stamman this Saturday. Should be a fun one.