Preview: UFC Fight Night 223 ‘Song vs. Simon’

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to the Apex for the second straight week, and while this is essentially a one-fight card, that one fight is thankfully excellent. After some late reshuffling, bantamweights Yadong Song and Ricky Simon were bumped from co-main status last week to get the five rounds they deserve, as the UFC's best division keeps on giving. Past that on the main card, middleweight prospects look to sort things out. The co-main between Caio Borralho and Michal Oleksiejczuk is a well-matched wrestler-versus-striker matchup, while high-upside talent Rodolfo Vieira looks to prove himself in the present against Cody Brundage. Rounding things out is the usual mix of Dana White's Contender Series alumni trying to prove themselves in some fun fights, so while there's not a ton in terms of stakes, this should at least be an entertaining night of action.

Bantamweights

Yadong Song (19-7-1, 1 N/C) vs. Ricky Simon (20-3)

ODDS: Simon (-115), Song (-105)

Even coming off a loss in his last fight, Song is still one of the brightest prospects in a deep bantamweight division. The UFC signed a slew of Chinese prospects ahead of their 2017 card in Shanghai and Song was clearly the standout on the male side. The "Kung Fu Kid" showed out on a few cards in Asia, knocking out Bharat Kandare and Felipe Arantes along the way, but his stateside debut in 2019 served as a true breakthrough; paired up with a traditional neutralizer in Alejandro Perez, it took Song all of two minutes to feel things out and uncork one of the most brutal knockouts of the year. That showing asserted Song as one of the most powerful pocket punchers in the division, and some opponents have adjusted accordingly, even if it still hasn't been particularly easy to find success; Cody Stamann leaned on his wrestling against Song later in 2019 and only earned a draw, leaving it to Kyler Phillips to hand Song his first UFC loss in 2021 on the back of a movement-heavy striking performance. Song's adjusted well from the Phillips loss, learning to fight with some effective aggression while remaining most comfortable as a counter-striker, stringing together three straight wins before falling short against Cory Sandhagen in a main event last September. And even that Sandhagen fight was a strong showing all things considered; Sandhagen looked excellent, but still dropped the first two rounds thanks to Song's power before earning a cut stoppage victory after the fourth round. Sandhagen likely would've hung on for the decision as he clearly hit a groove against Song's more limited repertoire, but Song hung with one of the best bantamweights in the world while still seemingly being set to hit another level in the coming years; maybe that jump will come here against the surging Simon.

Simon entered the UFC in 2018 as an absolute wild man whose success depended on outpacing his opponents, even managing to snag a literal last-second victory over Merab Dvalishvili. But just as quickly as Simon's all-offense approach caused him to rise up the ranks, it looked like it would become his undoing; he charged directly into a surprising knockout loss against Urijah Faber, then mostly ran into a more prolonged beating against Rob Font to drop a decision. That figured to slot Simon in as a high-level action fighter with a clear ceiling, but to his credit he's done an impressive job of retooling and evolving to put together five straight wins; pressure is still the name of the game for Simon, but he's done a much better job of picking his spots and filling out his striking to put together some much cleaner wins. And Simon's last two wins have put him in position to clearly separate himself as an athlete; he took apart the traditionally effective counter game of late-career Raphael Assuncao to cap off 2021, then out-quicked and ran over Jack Shore last July, sending Shore up to 145 pounds in the process. The step back up to athletic parity - at best - against Song is the big worry here for Simon; the American clearly has the wrestling to exploit what traditionally has been a hole in Song's game but closing distance to get things to that point figures to be a dangerous proposition. Simon's approach still involves meeting his opponent head-on at some point, and the bet is that Song can time one of those opportunities early - and even if this turns into Simon's type of fight, Song's ability to carry power through multiple rounds also becomes a bit of a concern. Song looks like a puzzle that needs to be outmaneuvered rather than outworked, which sets Simon up for danger; the pick is Song via second-round knockout.

Jump To »
Song vs. Simon
Borralho vs. Oleksiejczuk
Vieira vs. Brundage
Erosa vs. Padilla
De Lima vs. Cortes-Acosta
Quinlan vs. Waters
The Prelims