All action bantamweight Song Yadong makes his second main event appearance this weekend versus Ricky Simon. He looks to bounce back from a loss last time out to striking master Cory Sandhagen back in September 2022. At only 25 years of age he has a wealth of experience built up over a 10 year career in mixed martial arts.
Early Life and Career
Born in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China Song Yadong started training and studying different martial arts before becoming a teenager, these included Wushu and Sanda. He then took his talents to Beijing Aohalin Fight Club to start training Mixed Martial Arts and he made his professional debut at the tender age of 15 on RUFF 9 in Sanya, China. Before reaching the UFC in 2017 Song Yadong had fought on top promotion ONE Championship. His UFC debut came as a short notice opportunity in Shanghai on the UFC Fight Night Bisping vs Gastelum, he took the chance with both hands and earned himself a performance bonus with a front choke over Bharat Kandare in the first round.
UFC Career So Far
His biggest name win came in 2020 over Marlon Vera, who is now right at the top of the division, It was close fight and earned fight of the night bonus for both men involved. Following this he had his first loss came to the hands of Kyler Phillips at UFC 259, this fight showed the toughness of Yadong especially in round one after he was on the receiving end of a huge head kick. He pushed until the final bell but lost a unanimous decision 29-28 on all scorecards. Since then the youngster has picked up three wins two by KO, until he ran into the ‘Sandman’ last September in his first main event slot, where he picked up his second UFC defeat. His UFC record is 8-2-1 and he has fought across the globe.
UFC Bonus Collection
Bonuses can be found throughout the UFC career of Song Yadong, four performance bonuses and one fight of the night. Two of these five have been previously mentioned, the other three are a trio of tantalising KOs. Firstly, in Singapore a brutal elbow followed by ground and pound finished Felipe Arantes at the end of round two. Around a year later Song Yadong delivered a thunderous right cross in Las Vegas putting Alejandro Perez out cold. Finally his most recent bonus came against the legendary Marlon Moraes after a rapid three punch combination ending with a brilliant uppercut putting the legend on the canvas and out of the UFC.
Make sure you tune in this weekend to see if the ‘Kung Fu Kid’ can secure another bonus against elite wrestler Ricky Simon who is riding a five fight win streak.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
