Chinese bantamweight contender Song Yadong picked up the win against Marlon Vera in their featherweight UFC on ESPN 8 main card opener, but admitted he wasn’t too impressed with his own performance.
Yadong (16-4-1 MMA, 5-0-1 UFC) snapped Vera’s five-fight win streak to extend his own unbeaten run to nine. But he said his short-notice camp, plus the unexpected drama of last-minute visa issues that threatened to scratch him from the card, played into his performance on the night.
“I think I didn’t do my best, but I’ve been preparing for only two weeks, so since that I think I’m doing good,” he told reporters, including MMA Junkie, via a translator backstage after his win.
“I was having some visa issues before the fight. Sean Shelby was telling me that I couldn’t fight because of this issue, but my coach Urijah Faber was pushing it to get this done, and luckily we got it done one day before the fight.
“For sure, I was kind of affected by this, and also because of this special situation (fighting during a pandemic). Under all the circumstances I was under a little pressure.”
Yadong battled back and forth with Vera (17-6-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) in a fight that earned the pair Fight of the Night bonus checks, and the Chinese contender admitted he was unsure whether he’d done enough to claim the win as the scorecards were being totaled.
“I was thinking that way (worried it could go either way) at that moment, as well. I think I didn’t perform that well, but for sure I did all the best I could do.”
