Notes and Quotes from Yadong Song's UFC Fight Night 233 Post-Fight Press Conference

Yadong Song is a man on a mission.

The Chinese bantamweight contender put on a clinical performance against Chris Gutierrez in their five-round main event meeting to secure a unanimous decision victory at UFC Fight Night 233 on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

While Gutierrez attempted to break his opponent with his signature leg kicks and other attacks on the feet, Song returned the favor and proved to be the harder puncher, continuously forcing his opponent to stay on the back foot.

Furthermore, the Team Alpha Male product showed off his well-rounded game by mixing in his takedowns in the last three rounds, comfortably controlling Gutierrez and landing effective ground-and-pound strikes to score the victory.

Following his main event win on Saturday, Song sat down for a post-fight press conference interview with the media to discuss his performance and future aspirations as a Top 10 competitor in the stacked bantamweight division.

Here is a bullet-point recap of Song's interaction with the media:

On his state of mind following his main event victory against Chris Gutierrez at UFC Fight Night 233:
“Very calm right now. So, I had two friends [that] lost the fight. So, made me disappointed.”

Whether he believes he should have fought someone ahead of him in the rankings:
“I already fought two guys below me. So, I already earlier told I want to fight Petr Yan. He posted an emoji that meant the fight was boring, but his last fight was boring too. Like s—t. So, let's fight [at UFC 299]. I heard that he wants to fight in March. Okay, let's fight in March. We both don't go back. Let's see who is the best boxer in this division.”

On what position he'd like to be in when he gets an opportunity to fight in front of his home crowd in China :
“Of course, I'd like to challenge for the belt in China. Getting the belt in China is going to be very exciting.”

Other names he'd like to face in case the Petr Yan matchup doesn't materialize:
“Anyone in the Top 5. I want the Top 5 fighters; I don't want to fight outside of [the] Top 10.”

His message to the rest of the division following his dominant performance against Gutierrez:
“I will knock everybody out.”

On Gutierrez grabbing his glove in the second frame:
“Yeah. So, he grabbed my glove... I couldn't pull my gloves out when he tried to triangle me... I told Herb Dean, ‘He tried to grab my wrist,’ then he said it. But I felt angry! I couldn't pull it out, you know.”

On his game plan going into the bout with Gutierrez and whether he was worried about his foe's leg kicks:
“Yeah. I was ready for his leg kicks. You know, in every fight I want [to] knock everybody out, but you know this guy controlled the distance very well and I couldn't find the distance and he always used his feints and his kicks. But my coach told me to do more MMA style and then I go to single [leg] and take him down. In the fourth round, I feel he [was] very tired. He had a heavy breath, you know. I know I will finish him but he [kept] holding me. He kept holding me on the ground.”

On whether he was looking for a submission in the fourth and fifth rounds:
“I haven't been that situation [before]. I just want to hit him, knock him out and use my elbows. Next time I will do some more jiu-jitsu.”

On why Gutierrez was arguing with his coaches after the fight was concluded:
“They said that my coach [was] talking shit about my opponent. They said he's slow, but my opponent's coach say [that] too. Everybody heard that right? Uriah? I don't know why. Because I win. That's that's the reason why.”

On whether the person taunting Gutierrez during their fight was an acquaintance of his:
“OK. So, I don't know him, I don't know them because all my friends [that] came here are Chinese. So, I don't know these guys.”

His prediction for the upcoming bantamweight title fight between Sean O'Malley and "Chito" Vera at UFC 299:
“I pick Sean. Sean is smart. Good footwork, good speed. But I hope Chito could win the fight and have a rematch with me. That would be very good.”

Whether he'd still like to rematch "Chito" Vera for the title despite the Ecuadorian fighter's relentless criticism of the result of their first meeting:
“Our first fight, this guy, he has been preparing for six months. No one fought with him. His opponents kept getting injured and UFC told me [about] the fight before two weeks. At that time COVID-19 [had] just started. I was in my home for one month. No training, even no running you know. Coach said I can do it, so I took the fight but, I didn't have good conditioning. But actually, the fact is, I won the first two rounds. You guys can look again.”

His prediction for a potential rematch with "Chito" Vera:
“Whatever. Standup or on the ground, I can beat him up. He doesn't have the confidence to fight with me, everybody knows. I'm not a kid right now, I'm 26 years old right now.”