Song Yadong is on the brink of stardom, looking for a fifth straight win in the UFC’s bantamweight division.
Earlier this year, Weili Zhang became the first ever Chinese champion in UFC history. With this win, she has brought a lot of attention to the potential of Asia in the MMA realm. Alongside Zhang, one of the flag bearers of Asian talent is the 21-year-old Song Yadong. “The Kungfu Monkey” currently stands with a record of 14-3 (2) and is 4-0 in the UFC.
Yadong started his MMA career back in 2013 at the age of 16. He proceeded to amass a record of 10-3 before making his UFC debut against India’s Bharat Kandare in 2017. Since then he’s been on a roll. He’s joined forces with Team Alpha male where he’s honing his skills even further.
At UFC Washington Yadong has the chance to improve his UFC record to 5-0. Given the current state of bantamweight division, that would be huge. Standing is his path will be Cody Stamann.
Stamann too has had an impressive run in the UFC, one that includes a win over former contender Bryan Carway. After bouncing back from a loss to Aljamain Sterling in his last fight, “Spartan” hopes to get back in the list of prospects to watch out for, and a win over Yadong would for sure earn him that.
Yadong meanwhile has also expressed his desire to hold the title. After securing a win over Perez at UFC 239 he said, “I will be working towards the belt, I don’t know when it will happen but I’ll be working hard, waiting for the chance to happen.”
If he wants to get to the belt quickly, he needs not only to win, but to make a statement. While a soft-spoken fighter (see our media day interaction with Song Yadong here), he’s certainly capable of that in the cage.
And should it happen? Perhaps the idea of Song Yadong becoming the youngest UFC champion, surpassing Jon Jones, isn’t so far-fetched.
Song Yadong returns to action this Saturday, December 7 at UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington, D.C. at the Capital One Arena.
