Song Yadong returned to the win column in emphatic fashion at UFC Fight Night 277.
After losing a debatable decision to Sean O’Malley in January, Song (23-9-1 MMA, 12-4-1 UFC) was determined to show his resilience against Deiveson Figueiredo (25-7-1 MMA, 14-7-1 UFC) in their bantamweight clash at Galaxy Macau in China.
Advertisement
He did just that, snatching his first octagon submission with a guillotine choke on Figueiredo, who might be near the tail-end of his career, but also still represents a solid win for Song.
Despite being just 28, Song has been in the UFC for nearly a decade. The only people to beat him in the past five years are O’Malley, Song Yadong and Cory Sandhagen, only the latter of which was able to finish him with a cut stoppage.
It’s clear Song is among the elite at 135 pounds, but he’s struggled to get over the hump in some of his biggest moments. Can he adjust that and make himself a No. 1 contender while the likes of those names, as well as Umar Nurmagomedov and Merab Dvalishvili, exist in the title queue?
Unfortunately, timing might not let him find that out next. Pretty much everyone above him is tied up, with the nearest contender fight being O’Malley (19-3 MMA, 11-3 UFC) against Aiemann Zahabi (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14.
Advertisement
Could Song get the winner of that fight? Unlikely, as both will be angling to fight for the belt whenever Yan and Dvalishvili have their trilogy for the title.
The loser, however, could be a more realistic target opponent for Song, and it would either allow him to avenge the O’Malley loss or beat another fresh name in Zahabi.
If that doesn’t line up for Song, it could be a bit of a wait until he gets ack in the octagon unless he’s willing to fight way down in the rankings against someone like Payton Talbott or Raul Rosas Jr., and it would be understandable if he wasn’t excited about those names right now.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: UFC Macau matchmaker: Who’s next for Song Yadong after win?
