Song Yadong will face Chris Gutierrez in the UFC Shanghai main event Dec. 9, sources confirmed with ESPN on Tuesday. MagicM_MMABets on X first reported the news.
Song (20-7-1, 1 NC) is coming off a 5th round TKO over Ricky Simon in April. The China native, who lives and trains in California, has just two losses in his past 14 fights. Song, 25, was ranked ESPN's No. 1 MMA fighter under 25 years old in 2021.Gutierrez (20-5-2) has just one loss in his past 10 fights. The Texas native, who fights out of Colorado, is coming off a win over Alateng Heili on Oct. 14.
Gutierrez, 32, knocked out legend Frankie Edgar in Edgar's final career fight in November 2022.
The card takes place at the Shanghai Indoor Arena and is the UFC's first event in China since August 2019.It was originally reported that a matchup between Yadong and former UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan was in the works for the Shanghai event, but talks fell through in recent months.Yadong was supposed to face Rob Font at UFC 292 before withdrawing due to injury. Font went on to face Cory Sandhagen in a short-notice bout in Nashville.Yadong earned a finish of Ricky Simón in his last UFC fight back in April. He got back in the win column after a loss to Sandhagen in Sept. 2022.Before a loss to Sandhagen, Yadong was on a roll into the bantamweight rankings with recent finishes of Marlon Moraes and Julio Arce.Yadong will face a tough test in Gutierrez. After a unanimous decision loss to Pedro Munhoz back in April, he bounced back in a big way with a dominant win over Alatengheili last month.Gutierrez has finished the likes of Frankie Edgar, Vince Morales, and Batgerel Danaa during his rise up the ranks. He is 8-2-1 in his UFC tenure.The card is being finalized as of this writing but also features the returns of Jamie Mullarkey, André Muniz, and Tatsuro Taira.
Song Yadong is supremely quick and explosive, both in his ability to slip punches and counter, but also in his sprawls. Song Yadong is constantly evolving between fights, and that’s one of the variables always present, what new developments and changes will we see in his style every time he fights? As he progresses towards bigger stages, and likely more five-round contests as with his last, we have seen him shorten his stance, elect to plod forward instead of bounce and leap, and pick his moments to explode more efficiently. Song has shown excellent head movement as of late and a superior ability to strike off of angles. Song used a very crafty, slip off the right hand and angle back with a counter left hook in a recent outing. He also likes to lead with the right cross or right body kick then follow up with a whipping left hook. Song is extremely powerful and has excellent timing, however one habit which has been exploited in the past, is he doesn’t jab his way into range. He will often shuffle his way in and look to land with power right off the bat.
Chris Gutierez is one of the most educated strikers in the sport today. He is accurate and fluid, floating in and out with ease and incredible distance management. He will look to switch stance and tag his opponents with long jabs without overextending, in order to draw out his opponent’s attack so as to pull counter with his left jab or check left hook. Although Gutierrez has great boxing, it’s really his kicking game that has caused him to stand out. He is very good at managing range in a way to land his spinning hook kicks and back kicks, chopping at the calf in between to stagger and freeze his opponents in place. It is a common notion for his opponents that being the forward pressuring fighter, does render Gutierrez’s style more difficult to pull off however, it always runs the risks of allowing Gutierrez to give space and cut that space off with a devastating knee down the middle or spinning back fist.
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