It was only two weeks between China's Song Yadong signing the match contract to stepping into the Octagon at UFC on ESPN 8, the third and final UFC event to be held in Florida this week. But even with such a short time to prepare for his opponent, Marlon Vera, he managed to win his three-round even fight by unanimous decision, giving the Chinese fighter a 5-0-1 record in the UFC, and an overall MMA record of 16-4-1.

Vera, Song's 27-year-old rival, is taller and has a better reach, and the Ecuadorian utilized a large variety of attacks during the bout. But Song, nicknamed the "Kungfu Monkey", stuck to his fundamentals and landed more total strikes against"Chito".

The fight was admittedly close, and Vera was unhappy with the result, going as far as to refuse to shake Song's hand following Bruce Buffer's announcement of the decision. In his post-fight interview, Song didn't seem happy either. He said he believed he didn't perform well as two weeks ago, before he knew he would be fighting, he was still eating fried chicken and drinking coke.

The Team Alpha Male fighter was quite modest, saying he expected the result to be a split decision before referee Dan Miragliotta raised his hand. Song promised to train harder and prepare better for his next fight. This victory, whether Song believes it was worthy or not, puts him at 14th in the UFC men's featherweight division rankings, meaning he is now closing in on becoming a top 10 fighter in the division.

The next event, currently scheduled to be UFC 250, is supposed to be the first event held in the secretive "Fight Island", an isolated location intended to keep everyone safely away from the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main event is a women's featherweight championship bout between Amanda Nunes and Felicia Spencer on June 7.