Song Yadong came out aggressive and barely slowed as he earned a split decision win over Casey Kenney at UFC 265.
The bantamweight standouts kicked off Saturday’s UFC 265 PPV card in Houston, Texas.
Song made a point to leave a dent with each shot that he landed and kept Kenney on his heels. He found his range early and got Kenney’s rhythm down right away. Kenney was a step slower for the first round, until he was able to drop Song with a straight left hand that led to a clinch exchange on the cage.
The second round saw a more desperate Kenney who began to push the pace more and pressure Song. Song did not backup for very long as he began to stand his ground and exchange with Kenney.
Starting to heat up in RD 2 🔥 #UFC265 pic.twitter.com/JxX53FOYMy
— UFC (@ufc) August 8, 2021
In the third round both men showed desperation trading body kicks and shots. Song led with combos as best as he could with Kenney answering. Kenney did begin to slow down and with about a minute left shot in for a takedown and ended the fight on top looking for strikes.
In the end the judges gave Song the nod.
Both men were looking to bounce back from recent setbacks: Yadong had dropped a decision to Kyler Phillips in his last outing; Kenney had done the same against Dominick Cruz.
Official Result: Song Yadong def. Casey Kenney by split decision (28–29, 29–28, 30–27)
