China’s Song Yadong defeats former world champion Figueiredo at UFC Macao
China”s Song Yadong saved the best for the last as the bantamweight striker capped off the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Fight Night Macao with a crowd-pleasing submission win over former world champion Deiveson Figueiredo.
Song, China’s highest-ranked men’s fighter in UFC across all divisions, delivered a fight of his career on what would be an otherwise disappointing night for his home fans after he submitted former flyweight title holder Figueiredo with a guillotine choke in the second round in their main event of the Fight Night at Macao’s Galaxy Arena on Saturday.
It was Song’s 23rd career win as a professional MMA athlete, and the 12th under the UFC banner in 17 bouts in the Octagon since signing up with the Las Vegas-based promotion in 2017.
Entering the Macao event as the 5th-ranked contender in UFC’s bantamweight, Song is expected to keep climbing the ranks, and has cemented himself as a serious challenger at the belt currently kept by Petr Yan of Russia.
After witnessing four other Chinese fighters lose their respective bouts before his main event, Su felt the weight on his shoulder as he walked into the sell-out arena accompanied by the theme song of Chinese TV classic Journey to the West.
Nicknamed as the “Kung Fu Monkey”, inspired by the TV series’ main character, by his home fans, Song drew strength from the crowd’s rousing reaction and the same music that was played as prelude to his UFC debut in Shanghai in 2017.
And he lived up to that expectation by pulling off a crowd-pleaser in a thrilling finale of the night.
After patiently breaking down the dangerous Brazilian with pressure and sharp striking, Song capitalized on a takedown attempt early in the second round by locking up a tight guillotine choke that forced Figueiredo to tap out at the 4:42 mark and secured the biggest win of his career.
“I did feel the pressure and I can’t imagine to see the headline of ‘total loss of all Chinese’ the next morning, so I told myself to do my best and focus on my fight,” Song said during his post-fight news conference.
“I knew I have what it takes to win the bout and I’ve prepared the best I can. So I just focused on executing my techniques, the opportunity (for a choke) came and I took it. The result just took care of itself,” said the 28-year-old Heilongjiang native, who’s been training at the Team Alpha Male club in Sacramento, California for years.
Asked who he expects to fight in his next bout, Song shrugged off the hyped rivalry between him and the rest of the division, saying he will only focus on perfecting his own craft the be ready for whoever the UFC picks for him down the line.
“I don’t care to be honest. My goal will be building my fight toward a shot at the division crown,” said Song.
Song’s victory capped off a three-day fighting series in Macao, where the UFC kicked off the Season 5 of its talent-selection tournament, the Road to UFC, on Thursday and Friday, before the 13-bout blockbuster Fight Night.
With over 12,600 spectators drawn to Saturday’s main event, the impressive turnout at the Galaxy Arena, following an earlier successful Fight Night in Shanghai in August, has served up a strong testament to MMA’s growing appeal to the Chinese market.
“Our commitment to this region and Greater China as a whole is reflected in the fact that we do more and more these events,” Kevin Chang, UFC’s senior vice-president and head of Asia, said of the organization’s effort of hosting live events in China on consistent basis.
“That’s pretty important for what we’re trying to do here to grow the fanbase and we’ve shown it that we are committed and we are consistent. And we can expect more and more of these types of events to come.”
Although not ready yet to be announced, Chang hinted in Macao that a return to Shanghai this year, quite possibly late in summer again, has been on serious discussion between the UFC and its Chinese partners.
