Song Yadong: China’s brightest bantamweight prospect making waves.
In the last few years, MMA has grown tremendously globally, and the UFC has ventured into new territories throughout the world. Of all the regions for MMA’s advancement, perhaps the most fascinating is China, a country with martial arts in its DNA and with a growing number of fighters and enthusiasts. From the new generation of talents originating from China, Song Yadong, the UFC bantamweight division contender, is at the forefront. Song currently sits at 26 years of age and has already established himself as one of the frontrunners of one of the UFC’s most popular divisions. As an athletic and technique fighter with fighting spirit, Song Yadong has started from the beginning level and promoted rapidly to be the shining star of China’s bantamweight division. He is one of the new generations of Chinese fighters who will be able to greatly affect the further development of MMA. This article will cover Song Yadong’s background, his ascent to the top, his striking technique, and what he could bring to the UFC. We will look at all the adversities he has encountered on the way, the major milestones of his career, and why he is considered one of the most promising young fighters in the sport at the moment. Martial arts beginnings and childhood Song Yadong is a Chinese professional ice hockey player born on December 2, 1997, in Hulan District, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. Song grew up in an area that has a very cold climate, and this made him to become hardworking in the future. Born and raised in China, he grew up with a strong Chinese martial arts background, and kung fu was as much a part of him as it is to any Chinese child. But it was only after he switched to MMA that he realized what he really wanted to do in his life. Song’s martial arts training started at age 9 when his mother put him in Wushu school, which is a Chinese martial art. Wushu gave Song a good grounding in striking, mobility, and movements, but soon he was looking for harder and more active forms of martial arts. When mixed martial arts started to become popular in China, Song was fascinated by the fact that it was a multiple martial arts-style combat sport. At his teenage, Song planned to be an MMA fighter, which was a very daring idea as the sport was not very popular in China at that time. Early MMA Career and the Road to the UFC Song Yadong started his professional MMA career at the age of 16, which is very young for a fighter who is just coming out of the amateur ranks. He started his career in 2013 in Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation (RUFF), one of the biggest MMA promotions in China. Song was only 21 years old when he joined, and he proved to be a tough fighter with a complete package. In the following years, he performed in different promotions in the Asia region and continued adding up his victories as well as the experience. Another characteristic of the early singer’s career was that he was willing to fight often and always against stiff competition. It is for this reason that Song was thrust into action early in his young career, unlike many fighters of his age. He continued to fight often against veterans, which helped him grow quickly and build up his experience and technique. When Song was 20 years old, he had a rather good record and had been noticed by foreign MMA talent scouts. Song Yadong was lucky to get his big break in 2017 when he joined the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). At the time, the UFC was already seeking to sign more Chinese fighters as part of its attempt to penetrate the Chinese market. Song was the perfect candidate; he was young, talented, and could be marketed easily. Although he is a bit older than some of the other fighters and does not have as much experience as some of the UFC veterans, Song did not take long to make an impact on the biggest MMA promotion in the world. UFC Debut and Early Success The Chinese fighter Song Yadong made his UFC debut on November 25, 2017, at UFC Fight Night 122 held in Shanghai, China, against an Indian fighter, Bharat Kandare. It was a big victory not only for Song but also for the UFC to expand MMA in China. Song’s debut couldn’t have been much better—he won the fight in the first round by submission and showed that he has a strong background in grappling while also receiving the Performance of the Night bonus. The victory put Song in the spotlight of the UFC audience and experts, who saw the potential in him. Subsequent to his success in his first fight, Song gained more victories in his subsequent fights. He went on to win his next four fights, out of which he knocked out Alejandro Pérez at UFC 239 and was awarded the Performance of the Night bonus. Song had the finishing instincts, explosive striking, and all-round skills to make him a crowd-pleaser and one of the UFC’s most exciting emerging talents. One of the most important matches in UFC of the early stage of Song’s career was held in May 2020 at UFC on ESPN, where he fought with the experienced Marlon Vera. Vera was considered a tough and experienced fighter, and for many people, the fight was an important test for Song. Still, Song did not back down and managed to get a unanimous decision victory in the fight and proved that he is a serious contender in the bantamweight division. Fighting Style: A Combination of Accuracy and Force And this is one of the reasons why Song Yadong is such an entertaining fighter: he has a lot of options when it comes to fighting. Song is a bantamweight fighter, and this is a division that is characterized by speed, technique, and cardio. However,
