UFC 265: Song Yadong vs. Casey Kenney Picks and Predictions

Song Yadong and Casey Kenney face off on Saturday in a bantamweight showdown in the main card of UFC 265 at the Toyota Center in Houston. 

Song Yadong comes into this fight with a 16-5-1 record overall but coming into this fight he has lost two of his last three fights. Yadong’s last fight was against Kyler Phillips in March of 2021, and he lost that fight by unanimous decision. Yadong was taken down three times in that fight, and that led to the loss. Yadong is averaging 4.35 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 3.64 significant strikes per minute. Yadong is averaging 0.59 successful takedowns every 15 minutes, and he is successful on 75 percent of his takedown attempts. Although Yadong doesn’t do it a lot, if he wants to get the fight to the ground, he usually is pretty good at making it happen. 

On the other side of this matchup is Casey Kenney who comes into this game with a 16-3-1 record overall and he has won three of his last four fights. The one loss during that stretch for Kenney was in his last fight against Dominick Cruz, and that was a fight he lost by split decision. Kenney is averaging 4.81 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 4.30 significant strikes per minute. Kenney is averaging 1.10 takedowns every 15 minutes but he is only successful on 39 percent of his takedown attempts. Kenney is also stopping 59 percent of his opponents' takedown attempts. Kenney is also averaging 0.5 submission attempts every 15 minutes.