Song Yadong says UFC will protect Sean O’Malley from callout

LAS VEGAS – Song Yadong thinks the UFC could have little interest in making his callout of Sean O’Malley occur after his primary occasion win at UFC Fight Night 223.

He’s largely OK with that, although, as a result of the surging bantamweight contender Yadong (20-7-1 MMA, 9-2-1 UFC) sees different prospects outdoors of O’Malley (16-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) following his fifth-round TKO of Ricky Simon (20-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) on Saturday on the UFC Apex.

“I need to combat top-five fighters,” Yadong instructed MMA Junkie and different reporters on the UFC Combat Evening 223 post-event information convention. “Even (Rob) Font – he’s No. 6. He’s OK. (Marlon) ‘Chito’ Vera and Sean O’Malley – however they in all probability gained’t give me Sean O’Malley. They need to defend him. No matter. Simply prime 5. My aim is to combat top-five fighters this yr.”

Outdoors of O’Malley, Font or Vera, Yadong stated he would even be content material with a matchup in opposition to Petr Yan, who he “forgot” to name out however thinks could be a becoming pairing as he tries to take the subsequent step at 135 kilos.

Greater than something, Yadong simply desires to remain energetic in 2023, he stated. He want to return in July or August, however stated it relies on his well being and whether or not the promotion can discover him an applicable foe.

In the end, Yadong hopes to construct off his first primary occasion triumph contained in the octagon. He wasn’t thrilled together with his displaying in opposition to Simon, regardless of controlling the vast majority of the motion then scoring knockdowns within the fourth and fifth rounds to arrange the fight-ending TKO sequence.

“I really feel my efficiency was OK,” Yadong stated. “Not superb. I might’ve ended the combat within the earlier rounds. It was 5 rounds. He’s a really robust opponent. I wished to be affected person within the combat. I had quite a lot of probabilities to complete the combat earlier.”

For extra on the cardboard, go to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for UFC Fight Night 223.