Song Yadong sent Marlon Moraes to a fourth consecutive defeat in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 203 co-main event, marking the most significant victory of his young career.
The 22-year-old Chinese fighter is a prospect no more. Yadong (19-5-1 MMA, 8-1-1 UFC) needed just 126 seconds to run through Moraes (23-10-1 MMA, 5-6 UFC) for the knockout win over for the former WSOF champion.
The bantamweight bout was the UFC Fight Night 203 co-headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. It aired on ESPN+.
Yadong and Moraes came out of the gate extremely aggressive, trading power shots in a thrilling manner. It was Yadong who connected with the first big punch, though, and Moraes’ body language only went downhill from there. Yadong refused to let Moraes off the hook, as he pressured until landing a clipping shot to the side of the head that send Moraes down with his head snapping against the canvas.
Referee Keith Peterson decided he’d seen enough, and waved it off at the 2:06 mark of Round 1.
Yadong was elated to get the victory, and after the fight called out former two-time UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz, who has a storied rivalry with his camp at Team Alpha Male.
Up-to-the-minute UFC Fight Night 203 results includes:
- Song Yadong def. Marlon Moraes via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 2:06
- Sodiq Yusuff def. Alex Caceres via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Khalil Rountree def. Karl Roberson via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 0:25
- Drew Dober def. Terrance McKinney via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 3:17
- Alex Pereira def. Bruno Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Matthew Semelsberger def. A.J. Fletcher via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- JJ Aldrich def. Gillian Robertson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Javid Basharat def. Trevin Jones via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Damon Jackson def. Kamuela Kirk via submission (arm triangle) – Round 2, 4:42
- Miranda Maverick def. Sabina Mazo via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 2, 2:15
- Cody Brundage def. Dalcha Lungiambula via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 3:41
- Guido Cannetti def. Kris Moutinho via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 2:07
- Azamat Murzakanov def. Tafon Nchukwi via TKO (flying knee) – Round 3, 0:44
