Henry Cejudo and Song Yadong will get it on when they headline UFC Seattle from the Climate Pledge Arena on February 22nd. Yadong is the betting favorite to win the fight. We give you our verdict when we name our latest UFC betting picks.
The UFC returns to Seattle for the first time since 2013 for Fight Night 252. The headline act is Henry Cejudo vs Song Yadong in the Bantamweight division.
Cejudo is coming off two straight defeats. He is ranked No.7 in the division. His opponent, No.8 Song Yadong, is also coming off a defeat. The ‘Kung Fu Kid’ dropped a unanimous decision against Petr Yan at UFC 299 in March of last year.
Henry Cejudo is a box office hit, but that doesn’t win fights. The latest UFC Vegas betting odds favor a win for his opponent.
Song Yadong is -240 to win the fight on the money line. The best UFC betting sites have Henry Cejudo at +200 to claim his first win since returning to the sport.
More Cejudo vs. Yadong betting options can be found below:
Henry Cejudo has a career MMA record of 16-4. The 38-year-old American has won eight of his 20 fights by knockout and eight by decision. Three of his losses came by decision, with one by KO.
Cejudo made his UFC debut in 2014. He is 10-4 within the organization with six of his wins coming by decision, and four by knockout.
The overall view of Henry Cejudo is that he spent the best years of his career in retirement.
Cejudo is a talented fighter, he previously won a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in wrestling. He was also one of the UFC’s star attractions. Yet in May 2020, he retired, also giving up the UFC Bantamweight title.
On his return to the octagon in 2023, Cejudo lost a split decision to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 for the Bantamweight title. Only two of the 23 media outlets covering the fight gave Cejudo the win. The other 21 scored it in favor of the then-champion.
Cejudo’s second fight since his return was against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298. Dvalishvili took that with a unanimous decision win.
Henry Cejudo has great skills on the mat. Despite this, he has yet to score a submission win at the UFC. He tends to use his ground skills to impress the judges and get decision wins.
Cejudo is also a solid striker. He lands 3.77 significant strikes per minute at an accuracy rate of 46 percent. He also absorbs 3.29 shots per minute with a defense of 60 percent.
His takedown average is 1.99 per 15 minutes with an accuracy of 32 percent. Cejudo has a takedown defense of 75 percent and a submission average of .16 per 15 minutes.
Song Yadong has an overall MMA career of 21-8-1-1. The 27-year-old from China has recorded nine wins by KO, nine by decision, and three by submission. Five of his defeats have come by decision, two by KO, and one by disqualification.
He also has one draw and one no-contest on his record.
Song has ten wins in the UFC. Five have come by KO/TKO, four by decision, and one by submission.
Song doesn’t go down easy. He has only two KO defeats in his career. One came pre-UFC in 2014, and the other was a TKO loss against Cory Sandhagen after the doctor stopped the fight.
Following that September 2022 defeat to Sandhagen, Song defeated Ricky Simon in April 2023 and Chris Gutierrez in December 2023.
He then lost to Petr Yan at UFC 299.
Song is the bigger hitter. He lands 4.49 significant strikes per minute with an accuracy rate of 43 percent. He has a striking defense of 55 percent, absorbing 3.96 strikes per minute.
On the mat, he has a takedown average of 0.66 per 15 minutes, with an accuracy of 40 percent. Song also has a takedown defense of 72 percent and a submission average of .017 per 15 minutes.
Song has a four-inch height advantage and a three-inch reach advantage. He is also 14 years younger than Cejudo and has vastly more fights on his resume.
Henry Cejudo is well capable. He is a former two-division UFC champion, but his best days look behind him.
Since returning to the octagon in 2023, Cejudo is 0-2. The thing going in Cejudo’s favor is that they were both defeats against top-level opponents.
We know that Yadong has plenty of losses on his record. But he is the fighter on his way up against an older man who has struggled to make an impact since returning to the promotion.
Our betting pick is a win for Song Yadong.
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