Song Yadong has been living in the US for quite a while now and he appears to have picked up some colloquialisms. He came up short at UFC Vegas 60 last weekend after suffering a serious cut in the opening round against Cory Sandhagen.
But the Chinese bantamweight was clearly feeling philosophical after the fight and took to Instagram to tell his fans that ‘you win some, you lose some’.
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Impaired vision
Things started to go wrong for Yadong in the opening round when Sandhagen landed a devastating elbow. It opened up a cut above the Chinese fighter’s left eye that he was never able to recover from.
After several checks the doctor finally decided he had seen enough at the end of the fourth round and told the referee to call off the fight. Yadong admitted afterwards that his vision had been instantly impaired by the elbow.
It means he fought for more than three rounds without being able to ‘see anything’:
So basically couldn’t see anything after the cut. Props to @corysandhagen land that elbow. It wasn’t my night but a good fight. I will be back soon. @ufc #UFCVegas60
— Song Yadong (@SongYadongLFG) September 18, 2022
Heroic effort
While Yadong has clearly lost some momentum after seeing his three fight winning streak snapped this performance won’t have damaged his popularity. In hindsight it was a heroic effort from the 24 year old who never looked for a way out of the fight.
Given that his vision was impaired Yadong could have been forgiven for calling off the contest himself. Yet he came out for every round and would have fought the full 25 minutes had the doctor permitted him.
So while he can expect to drop a bit further down the rankings Yadong remains a star in the bantamweight division. He was #9 heading into this contest with the #4 ranked Sanshagen.
A title shot might await Sandhagen although a title eliminator against Marlon Vera appears more likely. Yadong might have to look a bit further down the bantamweight rankings to find the identity of his next opponent.
But his first ever experience of headlining a UFC card was clearly not a complete disaster. The Chinese star will need to wait for stitches to come out and the wound to heal but clearly remains a force to be reckoned with in the bantamweight division.
