Song Yadong has been in the UFC for eight years, having made his promotional debut back in November 2017 with a submission win over Bharat Khandare in Shanghai, China. He’s logged a total of 15 appearances inside the Octagon, amassing an 11-3-1 record over that time, including victories over Marlon Moraes, Ricky Simon, and Henry Cejudo, and heads into 2026 stationed at No. 5 in the bantamweight rankings.
That level of experience, that kind of standing and stature within the division is usually only achieved by competitors that are in their early 30s, maybe even their late 30s, but that is where Song is an outlier, as the Chinese standout just turned 28 at the start of December.