Song Yadong’s coach wants him to avenge the KO loss that ended his legendary UFC career next

Urijah Faber and Song Yadong both already have history with Petr Yan.

Stopping Umar Nurmagomedov has put Song at #3 in the bantamweight division rankings following a huge win on home soil.

Securing back-to-back wins and finishes has now put the 28-year-old contender firmly in the title picture.

With Yan and Merab Dvalishvili set to meet in a trilogy next month with the 135-pound gold on the line, the legendary coach of ‘The Kung Fu Kid’ has a preference regarding who they’ll face next.

'The Kung Fu Kid' made a statement by KO'ing Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC Shanghai

With Sean O’Malley targeting a rematch with Petr Yan, it would seem that Song Yadong’s best shot at getting the next title fight is if the belt changes hands in Abu Dhabi.

Merab Dvalishvili has already beaten ‘Suga’ twice, so a fresh matchup for ‘The Machine’ if he reclaims the bantamweight gold is certainly a possibility.

Despite this, the Chinese star’s legendary coach, Urijah Faber, would rather see his fighter share the Octagon with the current champion for a second time.

Faber was knocked out by Yan in the third round of what ended up being his final UFC fight back in 2019.

‘No Mercy’ also defeated Song via unanimous decision in 2024, with a rematch being the opportunity to get some revenge for Team Alpha Male.

“I would prefer the Petr Yan one because I think Yan got by by the skin of his teeth with a young Song,” Faber told UFC op Eurosport. “He knows he was getting bullied and Yan and I give each other s— all the time.

“He’s got a big win against me when I was 40 and he was 26 and he’s going to be the older guy going against my 20-something-year-old guy. I was making fun of him because I said that Song turned him into a wrestler because he was scared and I think that Yan does not want that fight.”

Beating Song was a huge moment for Yan, with him bouncing back from a three-fight skid and starting the win streak that would see him reclaim the bantamweight belt last December.

The striking numbers across their three round bout at UFC 299 were incredibly competitive.

Yan was able to win two of the three rounds on all of the scorecards after landing just 13 more significant strikes than his opponent.

While Faber has mocked the Russian for becoming a wrestler in this matchup, he shot three fewer takedowns than his opponent and only recorded seven more seconds of control time.