Song Yadong has had to ride his luck at times in order to remain undefeated in his first six UFC fights. That luck ran out today as the Chinese fighter dropped a decision to Kyler Phillips and he can have no complaints about the scoring.
Having not fought in ten months Yadong took a risk that failed to pay-off by accepting a fight with unranked Kyler Philipps at UFC 259 in Las Vegas. The ‘Kung Fu Monkey’ saw his nine-fight winning streak snapped as the talented American controlled the fight in the first two rounds to seal the unanimous decision.
Song absorbed some big shots, especially in the first round; showing remarkable mettle to shake off a monster head kick. The Team Alpha Male man did rally in the third, but it was too little too late.
With the loss he slips to 16-5-1 and will probably drop out of the top 15. Philipps extends his record to 9-1 and could well replace Song in the rankings.
ENTER THE MATRIX 🕶@KyMatrix gets the nod from the judges! #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/Zrdl6j2BQi
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) March 7, 2021
Illegal knee
Further up the card Petr Yan, who has spent a lot of time training at Tiger Muay Thai, relinquished his bantamweight title to Aljamain Sterling in highly controversial fashion.
The Russian, who was up 29-28 in the fourth, was disqualified in the fourth round. With Sterling down and clearly having one knee on the canvas, Yan paused before unleashing a knee to the head of his grounded opponent.
The referee had told the Russian that his opponent was grounded, but he delivered the shot anyway. Sterling was unable to continue and reluctantly accepted the belt improving to 20-3 while Yan drops to 15-2.
After an intentional foul by Yan, he gets disqualified.
🏆 @FunkmasterMMA is the new UFC bantamweight champion! #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/rEUPAr3I40
— UFC_Asia (@UFC_Asia) March 7, 2021
Right cross
It was a good night for Asian MMA veteran Kai Kara-France. He scored an incredible come-from-behind win, knocking out Rogerio Bontorin in the first round.
Bontorin, who’s a BJJ black belt, appeared to be in complete control. The Brazilian was dominating the Kiwi on the ground, but the City Kickboxing fighter was able to withstand the pressure and eventually found his feet.
In the dying seconds, Kara-France unleased a massive right cross, followed by a left uppercut and a right hook to secure his first knockout since 2017. He now climbs to 22-9-0-0-1 while Bontorin slides to 16-3-0-0-1.
UFC 259, Las Vegas, March 6th
Jan Blachowicz (c) def. Israel Adesanya via Decision (Unanimous)
Amanda Nunes (c) def. Megan Anderson via Submission (Armbar) at 2:03 of Round 1
Aljamain Sterling (c) def. Petr Yan via DQ (Illegal knee) 4:29 of Round 4
Islam Makhachev def. Drew Dober via third-round Submission (Arm triangle choke) at 1:37 of Round 3
Aleksandar Rakic def. Thiago Santos via Decision (Unanimous)
Dominick Cruz def. Casey Kenney via Decision (Split)
Kyler Phillips def. Song Yadong via Decision (Unanimous)
Askar Askarov def. Joseph Benavidez via Decision (Unanimous)
Kai Kara-France def. Rogerio Bontorin via TKO (Punch) at 4:55 of Round 1
Tim Elliott def. Jordan Espinosa via Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of Round 3
Kennedy Nzechukwu def. Carlos Ulberg via KO (Punches) at 3:19 of Round 2
Sean Brady def. Jake Matthews via Submission (Arm-triangle choke) at 3:28 of Round 3
Amanda Lemos def. Lívia Renata Souza via TKO (Punches) at 3:39 of Round 1
Uroš Medić def. Aalon Cruz via TKO (Punches) at 1:40 of Round 1
Trevin Jones def. Mario Bautista via TKO (Punches) at 0:47 of Round 2
