This past Saturday in the main event of UFC Vegas 83, we saw a fun matchup in the bantamweight division. Top ten ranked Song Yadong (21-7-1) was looking to defend his spot in the top ten against a determined Chris Gutierrez (20-5-2).
Song entered the bout a little frustrated that he was taking on the fifteenth ranked contender in Gutierrez. All fight week long, Song talked about making a statement. He wanted to go right in there and run through Gutierrez to show that there were levels to the rankings.
That said, Gutierrez made this a much tougher fight than Song was anticipating. Early on, Song was getting the better of things, but he couldn’t get on the inside like he wanted to. Gutierrez did very well with his movement and kicks which frustrated Song. Again, Song was still doing the most damage, but he wasn’t running through Gutierrez.
Eventually, Song started mixing in his wrestling at UFC Vegas 83 and that widened the gap between the two. By the end of the fight, all three judges gave the fight to Song and he won a lopsided decision.
What’s next after UFC Vegas 83
Essentially, this fight was experience and a pay check for Song Yadong. Because of Gutierrez’s ranking, a win like this really doesn’t do anything for Song outside of padding his record. So, he’s in the exact same spot he was in before the fight even happened if you ask me.
With that in mind, I think the next fight is fairly clear. The UFC originally wanted to book Song against former champion Petr Yan. However, Yan wasn’t able to take the fight and Gutierrez jumped at the opportunity to fight Song in the headliner. With this fight over now, I think the promotion will target the Yan fight again.