Song Yadong was robbed at gunpoint recently. The Chinese bantamweight shared this disturbing experience on Instagram earlier today and explained why he and his friends chose no to fight.
As the #8 ranked bantamweight in the UFC he is clearly better equipped to handle a combat situation than your average civilian. But Yadong realizes straightaway that this was one situation which his fighting ability would not help with,
“Even though I am a professional fighter I chose to surrender. Because I knew that, facing their guns, my fists couldn’t compete, I couldn’t be faster than a bullet.”
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Lost valuables
While Yadong appears to have emerged unscathed it was clearly a traumatic experience for the 25 year old who recalls that,
“I felt a sense of helplessness I had never felt before.”
While Yadong was physically unharmed it sounds like he lose some personal possessions,
“They took all the valuables we had on us. Fortunately we are safe.”
Yadong trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento. He doesn’t state where the robbery took place but it sounds like it was late at night,
“I also want to remind everyone to try to avoid being in the wrong place at the wrong time at night. We can’t completely avoid danger , but we can reduce potential risks by making cautious choices.”
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Unspecified injury
Yadong had been scheduled to face Rob Font at UFC 292 this month. But he pulled out of that fight after suffering an unspecified injury and the American ended up getting matched with Cory Sandhagen instead.
While Yadong might not be in peak condition due to his injury he clearly made a wise choice to hand over his possessions instead of physically confronting the armed men. There are several courses and instructors out there which train people to use martial arts against someone brandishing a gun.
The fact that one of the UFC’s top prospects realized immediately that he was totally helpless should be a wake up call for anyone who thinks that they are quick enough or skilled enough to disarm a gunmen. If Song Yadong isn’t than neither are you and it’s better to live and fight another day, something which the Chinese bantamweight will fortunately be able to do.
