Song Yadong

Hey, everybody! Karyn Bryant here with you. Today, kicking back with me I've got Song Yadong, who is fighting in the main event at UFC Seattle against Henry Cejudo.Yadong, it is so great to see you! What do you think about this fight?This is an excellent matchup for you…

Yeah it's a good opportunity for me you know. If I win the fight I have another chance to get in the top five. yeah it’s a great opponent.

That's what I was gonna say… Henry is obviously a two-time champion, an olympian… Where do you think he's the most dangerous at this point?

Of course he's the best wrestler in the world and when he was young he was already Olympic champ and the wrestling is his biggest weapon. I think that was the dangerous part: but this is MMA not a wrestling match so I’m not that worried about that. It's very different, obviously. Olympic wrestling to this fight.

What have you seen in his last fights that make you think you can beat him?

So, obviously his wrestling is not that dangerous. Even he was an Olympic champ, people still can take him down and can smash him so… yeah that gave me a lot of confidence. I cantake him down too. 

I'm sure you were a little bit frustrated with the fight with Yan, but it was a great fight! If it’s, “win or learn,” what did you learn?

Just be patient, my friend. I need to slow down the pace. I was impatient. I like to rush. I need to like slow down the pace. But I think Petr is a very great opponent. He has more experience, so it was a very good experience for me, I learned a lot from that fight. I don't know how to express, but I feel I learned a lot.

Your fights are so exciting! How much do you think about performing for the crowd versus just winning the fight for yourself?

People love my style because I’m always aggressive. In my mind fighting is fight to die! I want to put him to sleep- knock him out. I don't want to make the fight a decision. This is a fight. This is a game. I need to be smart. I need to win the fight, it’s more important than knocking him out.

I understand what you're saying. You want to take his head off, you want to knock him out but you have to be patient. What have you done strategically for your camp? Are you training with Alpha Male guys? Or have you been in China to prepare for Henry?

I've been training in Sacramento for like almost nine months straight, nonstop. I train a lot of wrestling, because before the fight announcement I was supposed to fight Umar. Everybody knows that. But the fight was canceled for some reason. I don't know… But since then, I started training wrestling a lot. So I believe my skill can handle Henry's takedown.

And if you're doing all that work wrestling with Alpha Male, you know that we've got Merab there as the Champion, so that's what I guess you're thinking of? Training training to fight Merab?

Yes he's a champ. My goal is to fight him. 

When you got this matchup with Henry did you assume that it would get you right back in that mix of a title shot? Because you're so close…

Yeah, I was so close. But you know what? If I win my next fight I think I'm the next, or one more.

With Zhang Weili retaining her title just a couple weeks ago: Did that give you any extra boost to see her win?

Yeah, she's a very good fighter. We all love her. And this fight was amazing. Everybody thinks, “Tatiana will win,” because her wrestling… but this is MMA, mixed martial arts. You need everything; Muay Thai, Jiu-Jitsu, not only wrestling. So it gives me more confidence. It’s the same situation in this fight: he's an Olympic champ, but I don't care. This is MMA, I will knock him out. And be smart!

We're getting more Chinese fighters in the UFC. You and Zhang Weili,

are the two best known. Of course, we had Li Jingliang as well… I’m not trying to say there aren’t others, but I do feel like you two probably get the most attention, right? What is it like that for you? Do you feel the support of Chinese fight fans?

Yes, I have a lot of fans, amazing support. But it also gives me a lot of pressure. But it helps me grow.

I’m curious about that pressure, because there aren't that many of you. And so they all want you to win, and I would imagine you maybe feel the pressure of performing for the whole country.

Because we already have a female champion they want a male champion. So everybody sends me messages saying, “you should be the first Chinese male champion in the U.S.” Everybody wants that. So, yeah, a lot of pressure. They send me the message every day saying, “trust yourself, you're next! You’re next champion!”

And you're like, “I know, I want it too!” 

It's not that easy, though!

Yeah, it's really not that easy! You're fighting against amazing people. But I think people need to remember you're only twenty seven. You and I have known each other a long time already but you're still only twenty seven. So you do have time to become champion…

Yeah, I believe I do have time, yes.

Some people say they want to achieve things by a certain age: Did you set milestones and goals for yourself? Or you just said, “however long it takes, I'll wait."

My goal is to get the title shot before thirty-two, thirty-three; and retire at thirty-five. I started earlier when I was fifteen, sixteen… So, yeah, that was my goal. 

Since you have already done this for a long time: What kinds of things are

getting easier for you and what kinds of things are getting harder for you? Maybe that's a training thing, or maybe that's just a career question… But what's getting harder and what's getting easier?

Getting harder? Certainly the competition. It's getting harder to get in the top five. I tried two times. I lost Cory Sandhagen and Petr Yan. They are so good, so I need to work harder and harder. Before, in the first two years in my first four fights, I always knocked people out. But right now it's very hard to knock people out. Everybody's good.

With Cory, the doctors stopped it Yadong! It wasn't you, it was the doctors.

Yeah. I still believe I could win the final round. Just the cut, just that bit.

If somebody didn't know you and I said, “Hey look, you’ve got to see this guy Song Yadong. He's so exciting! Is there one or two fights you think I should show people? Your favorites or ones where you think you performed the best that really showed who Song Yadong is?

I think the Ricky Simon fight is my best performance against wrestlers. Also, Cory Sandhagen- the first two rounds. 

The whole fight was good Yadong! I love that you can laugh about it. You can tell that you appreciate the spirit of martial arts… If you could script the way that you would beat Henry Cejudo, how would you like to win that fight?

I really want to knock him out with my right uppercut!

Well we'll look forward to that. He likes to talk a lot of smack and make a lot of jokes but maybe for you it doesn't matter so much?

I don’t want to play with him. English is his language, my English is not that great, so I don't want to talk too much with him and I want to focus on how to win the fight. I just focus on myself that's it.

Well I hope that you have a great performance. All of your fights are so exciting. Everybody knows that when you get in there to throw down…

I can't control myself! Sometimes I tell myself, “be patient.” But I get in the cage and I can't control myself.

I understand that! But try to listen to your coaches; put the pressure on when the time is right. You have five rounds; remember you don't have to hurry.

Right.

Well, thank you so much for kicking back with me. It's really just great to see how much success you've been having. And I’m really looking forward to seeing you in Seattle!

Thank you, Karyn!