What’s Next For Song Yadong?

UFC Vegas 60 went down last Saturday night (Sept. 17, 2022) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, leaving several fighters feeling the post-fight blues, including Alen Amedovski, who suffered his fourth straight loss inside the Octagon after getting knocked out by Joseph Pyfer.

And Chidi Njokuani, who was was knocked out by Gregory Rodrigues in the second round (see it again here). But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?

Song Yadong.

Coming into his first-ever headlining fight against Cory Sandhagen, Yadong had a great opportunity in front of him to inch closer to the Top 5 by taking out the man holding on to the No. 5 spot and who was also a former UFC title contender.

Yadong had looked great so far in his UFC career, jumping out to an 8-1-1 record. And he looked great early on against “Sandman,” too, winning the first round after tagging the lanky scrapper several times throughout. But after he suffered a nasty cut above his left eye, you had the feeling that it was only a matter of time that the fight would be stopped.

The cutmen did all they could to seal it up in between rounds, but every time Sandhagen connected it only opened up worse. The ringside physician also gave Yadong plenty of opportunities to keep going. But at the end of the fourth, the cut had gotten so bad that it promped the end of the fight for Yadong’s own well-being. The loss is just the second of his UFC career, but it’s a big blow to his ascension up the Bantamweight ladder.

“So basically couldn’t see anything after the cut. Props to Cory Sandhagen to land that elbow. It wasn’t my night but a good fight. I will be back soon,” he said after the fight via a social media post.

Despite the crushing setback, Yadong is still just 24 years old, so the young fighter from China has plenty of time to build himself back up and start another run up the 135-pound ladder. He showed great technique and striking against Sandhagen, and one would love to see what would have happened if we got one more round, or if the cut had never occurred.

But that’s the fight game.

As for who he should face next, perhaps a fight against Pedro Munhoz is in order. Munhoz is coming off a fight against Sean O’Malley, which was ruled a no contest (NC) after he suffered an inadvertent eye poke.

Munhoz needs a big win in the worst way because he is just 1-4-1 in his last six outings, but it isn’t indicative of the danger he is to his opponents. Plus, he is currently ranked No. 9 in the stacked Bantamweight division, while Yadong is sitting right behind him at No. 10.

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For complete UFC Vegas 60 results and coverage click here.