UFC Predictions: UFC Fight Night: Cory Sandhagen vs. Song Yadong

This weekend sees the UFC return to Las Vegas for another Fight Night event at the Apex facility. While it’s not receiving much fanfare, it does look lik a solid card.

UFC Fight Night: Cory Sandhagen vs. Song Yadong features an exciting bantamweight main event, as well as some intriguing fights up and down the card.

Here are the predicted outcomes for UFC Fight Night: Cory Sandhagen vs. Song Yadong.

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#1. UFC bantamweight division: Cory Sandhagen vs. Song Yadong

Can Cory Sandhagen turn back the challenge of Song Yadong this weekend?

Given the high ranking of these two fighters – Cory Sandhagen is currently No.4 and Song Yadong is No.10 – it’s probably fair to suggest that this clash might have genuine title implications in the UFC bantamweight division.

Interestingly, it’s probably more likely to be Song who could ascend into contention with a win. Sandhagen is clearly a great fighter, but as he has losses to current UFC bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling, former titleholder Petr Yan and top contender T.J. Dillashaw, it’s hard to imagine him gaining a shot at gold with a win here.

Song, on the other hand, has lost just once in 10 trips to the UFC octagon and holds a win over high-flyer Marlon Vera, even if it came in controversial fashion. If he could find a way to get past ‘The Sandman’ here, then he could easily stake a claim to a shot at the gold.

Can he do it, though? ‘The Kung Fu Monkey’ is definitely an excellent fighter. Probably the most successful male Chinese fighter in UFC history, he debuted back in 2017 with a win over Bharat Khandare and has since put together some great victories, including stoppages of Marlon Moraes and Julio Arce.

Training out of the famed Team Alpha Male camp, Song has explosive striking with knockout power, he’s fast, rarely gets tired, and has solid grappling skills, too. However, his lone loss in the octagon to Kyler Phillips in 2021 might be a bit of a concern for him leading into this one.

Essentially, Phillips kept him at the end of his strikes, using his five inch reach advantage pretty masterfully and hurting him on numerous occasions. Essentially, only Song’s chin kept him in the bout.

Sandhagen isn’t quite as lanky as Phillips, boasting a 70” reach compared to Phillips’ 72”, but that still means he has an advantage over Song in that department. More importantly, ‘The Sandman’ knows exactly how to use such an advantage.

On numerous occasions we’ve seen him keep foes on the end of his strikes, but where Phillips was happy to pick at Song, Sandhagen actually has vicious finishing power, as evidenced by his knockouts of Frankie Edgar and Moraes.

More to the point, if Song decides to wrestle and take Sandhagen down, ‘The Sandman’ also boasts a venomous ground game. He’s picked up three submission wins, including one in the UFC, and the only fighter to really dominate him on the mat was Sterling.

Essentially, then, while Song does have the punching power to win this one, it feels more likely that Sandhagen will just snipe at him at range, either taking a lopsided decision or a finish via some kind of nasty strike.

He might not be the best fighter in the division, but he’s the ultimate bantamweight gatekeeper right now, and it’s doubtful that Song can get past him.

The Pick: Sandhagen via decision

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#2. UFC middleweight division: Chidi Njokuani vs. Gregory Rodrigues

Chidi Njokuani has looked fantastic since making his octagon debut

While this middleweight co-headliner lacks some name value, it should be a fantastic bout to watch. Both Chidi Njokuani and Gregory Rodrigues have demonstrated serious finishing power in their UFC careers to date, and it seems highly unlikely that this one will go the distance.

Of the two, it’s hard to dispute that Njokuani has been more explosive to watch thus far. ‘Chidi Bang Bang’ struggled during his tenure with Bellator, but after earning a UFC contract with a win on Dana White’s Contender Series, he’s done some remarkable damage.

First, he switched the lights off on the iron-chinned Marc-Andre Barriault in just 16 seconds. Three months later, he knocked out Dusko Todorovic with a violent elbow strike. Both wins earned him $50k bonuses and one more victory could move him into the top 15 at 185lbs.

Rodrigues is not unbeaten in the UFC octagon, but at 3-1, he’s also been impressive. He has scored knockouts of Jun Yong Park and the tough Julian Marquez, and his only loss came at the hands of Arman Petrosyan in February.

‘Robocop’ is a more flat-footed striker than Njokuani, but his straight-ahead style and iron chin should definitely provide ‘Chidi Bang Bang’ with a challenge. However, the big difference between the two seems to be speed.

Njokuani moves remarkably quickly, especially for a 185lber, while Rodrigues is far more plodding, even if he seems to hit just as hard. More worryingly for ‘Robocop’, he also had his lights turned out during his appearance on DWCS by a quicker fighter in 2020.

Overall, then, this fight seems like Njokuani’s to lose. Rodrigues’ best bet would probably be to attempt to clinch with him and look to slow him down before dragging him into a war of attrition, as we don’t know too much about his cardio.

However, to do that he’ll have to walk into Njokuani’s wheelhouse, and it’s hard to imagine ‘Chidi Bang Bang’ not catching him with something nasty. Based on what we’ve seen so far from him, if he does that, then this fight is likely to be over.

The Pick: Njokuani via first-round knockout

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#3. UFC Fight Night: The Main Card

Tanner Boser stars on this weekend's main card

Initially, this event would’ve seen a bantamweight bout between Giga Chikadze and Sodiq Yusuff as part of the main card. However, Chikadze has been sidelined, and no replacement has been found at the time of writing, which means the show is likely to go ahead with a prelim being bumped to the main card.

In a featherweight bout, Andre Fili faces Bill Algeo. Algeo has taken this bout on a month’s notice, so it’s probably fair to suggest that he might not be the best prepared. He is on a two-fight win streak, but thus far, he’s struggled at times to make his grappling-heavy style work inside the UFC octagon.

Fili, on the other hand, is a longtime veteran who has had chances to climb into the top 15, but has never quite made it. ‘Touchy’ has all the talent, but he’s lacked the consistency over the years and often leaves himself wide open to his opponent’s attacks.

Given that he has also not won a fight since 2020, suffering two losses and a no contest since, it might be fair to guess that his prime could be over. That makes this one a tricky bout to pick. Overall, it could go either way, but the pick is Algeo via decision, largely because Fili will probably be too happy to go to the ground.

In a heavyweight clash, Tanner Boser takes on Rodrigo Nascimento. Boser is coming off a win over Ovince Saint Preux leading into this one, while Nascimento’s win over Alan Baudot in 2021 was overturned and he’s been suspended by USADA since.

Essentially, it feels like Boser is being thrown a bone here. The Canadian isn’t the best heavyweight, but he does have sneakily fast hands, packs plenty of power, and moves really well for a big fighter.

Nascimento, on the other hand, is much more plodding. While he’s dangerous on the ground, it seems largely doubtful that he’ll be able to get ‘The Bulldozer’ down. Therefore, the pick is Boser via KO.

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#4. UFC Fight Night: The Prelims

Picks in bold

Middleweight bout: Anthony Hernandez vs. Marc-Andre Barriault

Featherweight division: Damon Jackson vs. Pat Sabatini

Welterweight division: Trevin Giles vs. Louis Cosce

Middleweight division: Joseph Pyfer vs. Alen Amedovski

Women's bantamweight division: Aspen Ladd vs. Sara McMann

Women's strawweight division: Denise Gomes vs. Loma Lookboonmee

Lightweight division: Trey Ogden vs. Daniel Zellhuber

Women's flyweight division: Mariya Agapova vs. Gillian Robertson

Bantamweight division: Tony Gravely vs. Javid Basharat

Lightweight division: Nikolas Motta vs. Cameron VanCamp