1 – Song Yadong VS Petr Yan
The best fight of the weekend is not what most fans may expect, not the main or even co-main of UFC 299. Nor is it the heavyweight showdown in Riyadh between one of boxing’s biggest stars and one of the biggest from MMA – who has pivoted to boxing now. Nor is it even one of the biggest fights in French MMA history in Paris on Thursday. Putting aside all name value and hype, the most action-oriented, compelling, and competitive combat contest of the week is the bantamweight bout between Petr Yan VS Song Yadong.
This matchup between two stellar strikers is, to many, a match between new and old. Song is twenty-six and has fought in the UFC since he was nineteen. Petr won the bantamweight championship of the world in 2020 but one fateful foul lost him the belt and seeming regression has him now on a three-fight losing streak. However, the narratives around Yan may be misleading. His three losses came against differing stylistic matchups: a backpack grappling specialist, a long sniper-striker, and the most absurd transitional pace-wrestler in MMA history. Yadong is a well-rounded and violent striker, more similar in build and style to Yan himself than any of the Russian’s other recent opponents.
This fight should be a car crash. Both men move forward on the offensive and pick opponents apart with elite MMA boxing mixed with kicks and occasional clinch work. Petr beat Cory Sandhagen, who holds a victory over Song, in arguably 2021’s best fight, while Yadong has consistently been in great fights for his entire twelve-fight UFC run, half of which earned him some sort of performance bonus. If Petr has truly regressed then he may find himself on a four-fight losing streak on Saturday; the oddsmakers have this one lined at near-evens, marking that as a distinct possibility. But this type of fight is traditionally one which he comes out on top in, with only Sean O’Malley ever besting ‘No Mercy’ in a striking war, that being by controversial decision. On the other side, this is a chance for China’s budding second MMA star to prove he has the potential to achieve champion status like Zhang Weili, but he will have to walk through hellfire at UFC 299 to do so.
