UFC Vegas 60 Aftermath: Yadong is the real deal
Cory Sandhagen beats Song Yadong but Yadong proved he's among the best
Boy did I get that one wrong. I thought Song Yadong was due for a whoopin’ as he went into UFC Vegas 60 against Cory Sandhagen. In this week’s Beforemath issue I didn’t give Yadong a fair shake and said he was shorter, slower, and less technical. Only one of those three things were true. Let’s break it all down in this week’s Aftermath article!
If you missed last week’s video, don’t forget to check it out! We broke down Cael Sanderson defeating Daniel Cormier in the 2001 NCAA National Championships. This week we are doing a case study on Enho, my favorite sumo wrestler!
UFC Vegas 60 Takeaway: Yadong Is Top Division Talent
This entire post is going to be an apology to Song Yadong with a little Cory Sandhagen talk thrown in. Song Yadong is very, very good. While he was cut and the fight was called off, he gave a good account of himself against Cory Sandhagen who is often tricky to do so against. But Yadong did just that. What makes Sandhagen so tough is how he feints and the variety of attacks he comes with. Yadong handled the feints by being resolved to go when he saw fit. He didn’t bite on many of Sandhagen’s traps and punished Sandhagen for being impatient because of this.
It was obvious early that Sandhagen came into UFC Vegas 60 looking to wrestle. Early in the first round he shoots a takedown and presses Yadong to the fence. He looked to tire out the Chinese power puncher and didn’t do a half bad job. But Yadong’s resilance was unexpected and Yadong’s grappling is sneakily tricky. Several times Sandhagen got the fight down and Yadong swept Sandhagen. In the first, Sandhagen shot a takedown and Yadong grabs under the leg and reverses Sandhagen. He was in the guard and Sandhagen was looking to throw up a triangle but Song Yadong stayed safe. Cory then goes to all fours and Yadong gets the back. Yadong showed that while his power punching may be his primary weapon, he is no slouch on the ground and is a true mixed martial artist.
Yadong showed that while Sandhagen was very technical, he too had some tricks up his sleeve. In the second round Song Yadong hurt Cory Sandhagen and stumbled him back to the fence. In the diagram above you can see that (1) Cory Sandhagen was chasing Yadong down with the jab. Yadong was slipping and parrying some while eating some at the same time. (2) Sandhagen throws a left hook and Yadong dips under. You can see in the next section (3) that on the dip, Yadong pivots and has his arm around the body of Sandhagen. With Sandhagen over-pursuing, he has the option to snatch up the leg or land a big shot. With Yadong being the power puncher, he would opt for the second option and (4) he lands a left hook that sends Sandhagen stumbling back.
I’ve discussed this on YouTube when talking about Mike Tyson knocking out Buster Mathis Jr. While Yadong did a good job of pivoting out, Mike Tyson is, of course, cleaner, quicker, more technical, and provides a finish.
In the two heavyweight fighter’s bout in 1995, Mathis would bring a heavy forward attack on Mike Tyson to wear him out into later rounds. He kept his guard high and stood toe to toe with Tyson hoping he would punch himself out. But in the third round Mathis would make a fatal error. (1) When Mathis pushed to the fence, he generally was right on Tyson. But in the finishing sequence, he gave Mike Tyson space to move and that is all he needed. Opposite of Yadong’s pivot to the right, (2) Mike Tyson pivots out to his left where he can land with his power hand. Yadong pivoting to the right forces his hook to come from his lead hand. There is a opportunity to throw a cross but Yadong prefers the power shot as does Tyson. The pivot to Tyson’s left opens up the power shot. Like Sandhagen, Buster Mathis Jr. gets caught up in the fight and Tyson (3) has Mathis looking to his right but facing forward where Tyson was. Of course Tyson landed the right hook and put Mathis down.
At the end of the day, Song Yadong couldn’t get the win. While his head movement was better than most in MMA, it wasn’t enough and Sandhagen’s jab repeatedly found the mark. After a big cut on his face, the fight was (rightfully) called off.
Cory Sandhagen Looked Slow
It’s not often that Cory Sandhagen is made to look bad as he did at UFC Vegas 60. While Sandhagen did look flustered early on, he showed the ability to stick to a gameplan that takes time to see come to fruition. Sandhagen is used to being the faster fighter. Against fighters like Petr Yan, TJ Dillashaw and Frankie Edgar, Sandhagen enjoyed a comfortable speed advantage. I thought he would in this fight but that wasn’t the case.
Sandhagen went for a jab and wrestle approach. The latter didn’t work. Song Yadong was more adept on the ground than he gets credit for and, while he didn’t abandon the gameplan, Sandhagen kept shooting the takedown to keep Yadong honest. But the jab did the work for Sandhagen. Early on, Yadong was faster and out landed Sandhagen in the second round. But Sandhagen kept to the jab and opened up the gash on Song Yadong’s brow.
The jab didn’t always land and, as we mentioned earlier, Yadong would slip and parry many of them. But he found a home for the jab enough to do lasting damage. From round 2 on, the doctor was worried about the cut that had blood pouring into the left eye of Yadong. In round four, the cut became too dangerous and the doctor called off the fight before the fifth round commenced. Sandhagen was winning the fight for sure. But the win was not an easy one and Sandhagen could either be moving up in weight or the wars with Dillashaw and Yan are taking a toll on him. Time for him to fight Merab. Let’s test that cardio.
Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed and if you did share it with a friend. This week we have a break from the UFC but I’ll be back Wednesday to do a Beforemath on this week’s ONE card talking Superbon vs. Chingiz Allazov!