Las Vegas, NV – UFC bantamweight Song Yadong sees his main event fight with Ricky Simon at UFC Vegas 72 as a stepping stone back to facing top 5 opponents, but he’ll need the win on Saturday night.
“Of course if I beat him I will fight next top 5 guys,” Yadong told reporters on Wednesday.
The fight being the main event of an APEX card didn’t deter Yadong from staking his claim for a top 5 fight after this Saturday night. Even if it isn’t in front of a sold-out arena the fight will still get plenty of attention.
“This means more eyes on the fight. If I win the fight more people (will) know me. My fight next (will be) top 5 guys again,” he said.
Yadong (19-7) isn’t looking past Simon who comes into the fight riding a 5-fight win streak. He respects him and gives him credit, but feels that he’s better in every aspect than Simon is.
“He’s a very tough guy. Strong wrestler, and his striking is getting better (through the years), but every skill he’s very average,” Yadong said of his opponent.
“My striking is better than him, and my ground game is also better than him.”
Big words from Yadong knowing Simon is a pretty good ground fighter. He still doesn’t fear his ground game and challenged him to wrestle on Saturday night.
“If he want to wrestle, let’s wrestle. If he want jiu jitsu, let’s jiu jitsu,” he said.
“I like knock(ing) people out, but I’ve been training jiu jitsu for 10 years. Every single day I’ve been training jiu jitsu.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Song Yadong above. He takes on Ricky Simon in the main event of UFC Vegas 72 on Saturday night.
