Song Yadong isn’t interested in proving anyone wrong anymore.
Ahead of his UFC Shanghai main event against Umar Nurmagomedov on Saturday, the Chinese bantamweight is drawing inspiration from Bruce Lee, tuning out the outside noise and keeping his attention on the one thing he can control.
“After I got to the states that’s when I started to really learn about Bruce Lee. The more I learned it actually felt quite scary,” Song told reporters through a translator on Wednesday.
“Over 50 years ago understanding of combat and his life is already reached a very high level. These past few days I’ve actually been listening to his book and also some podcasts. He also talked about practice and traditional martial artists transitioning to competitive sports. His technique and some power generation method are actually very similar to when I first started training.”
Song’s mindset has also changed when it comes to the outside noise surrounding his fights. Where he once found motivation in proving doubters wrong, he’s reached a point where the only expectations that matter are his own.
“In the past I felt that if others didn’t believe in me I had to prove them wrong, but now for me whether it’s these companies, gambling or something, whether they believe in me or not, I don’t really care,” he said.
“Right now I only focus on myself.”
Song also made sure he had everything he needed for a full training camp without making things more complicated than they needed to be. With friends making the trip to help and the UFC Performance Institute in China providing everything under one roof, his focus could stay entirely on preparing for the fight.
“The preparation was actually the same place as when I just got to US. At the same time I got a lot of friends coming over to help including some local friends from Shanghai. At the PI all the facilities are very good so everything I needed was right there. I didn’t have to run back and forth,” he said.
There’s been no manufactured beef or bad blood between Song and Nurmagomedov heading into the fight. For Song, there’s no need to make things personal when the two can simply settle things inside the cage.
“During our last conversations there wasn’t tension. We also waved to each other. (The) two of us don’t have any history or any issue, so to put it simply, it’s just a match,” said Song.
“I’m also not a trash talker.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Song Yadong above. He faces Umar Nurmagomedov in the main event of UFC Shanghai on Saturday.
