Song Yadong’s face was covered with blood from the moment Cory Sandhagen landed a second round elbow at UFC Vegas 60. But the damage done to the Chinese bantamweight was not just external.
Afterwards Yadong admitted he had struggled with his vision and the 24 year old found out why. He shared a hospital scan on his Instagram page which shows he suffered a broken orbital during the headliner in Las Vegas:
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Triple vision
He says the damage was done in round two and it was presumably caused by the elbow which opened up the cut above his left eye which would ultimately cause the contest to be called off. Yadong told his Instagram followers that,
“Since round two I was seeing triple vision because of this orbital fracture, I was facing three Corys in front of me. A titanium piece will put in for me next week, will come back tougher with the metal.”
The fight was not stopped until the end of the fourth round. The doctor eventually deciding that the external damage was so bad Yadong could not be allowed to continue.
Had he known that the fighter had also suffered a broken orbital the contest would surely have been called off sooner. It is to the Chinese fighter’s credit that he was able to fight for over ten minutes despite having suffered such a serious injury.
Who's next for @CorySandhagen after #UFCVegas60? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Cy325p5qf6
— UFC (@ufc) September 18, 2022
Tough guy
The Chinese fighter admitted afterwards that he ‘couldn’t see anything’ during the fight. But when the doctor at the Apex Centre asked him if he was able to continue Yadong repeatedly assured him that he was.
Yadong is set to undergo an operation in which a ‘titanium piece’ will be used to reconstruct the broken orbital bone. It means the #9 ranked bantamweight could be set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
But while he might have damaged his face Yadong definitely didn’t damage his reputation. His willingness to continue fighting despite having suffered such a serious injury will only enhance his tough guy reputation.
In fact Jingliang Li probably speaks for all of us in his comment under the Instagram post which reads,
“Tough guy! Hope you recover quickly!”
