UFC Fight Night: Song Yadong vs. Chris Gutiérrez Prediction, Odds, and Picks (Dec 9)

• The UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Gutiérrez odds are heavily favoring the Chinese fighter.
• Chris Gutiérrez has never lost a fight by knockout/technical knockout in his professional career.

UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Gutiérrez was originally meant to take place in Shanghai in Song Yadong’s home country of China. However, just some 10 days before the event, the UFC decided to move it to Las Vegas, where Texas-born Chris Gutiérrez will have his crowd to support him.

Nevertheless, despite the chance, the Song vs. Gutiérrez odds haven’t changed much. The Chinese fighter remains a huge favorite to win on December 9. Are oddsmakers correct to think so?

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How to Watch

• When: Saturday, December 9, 2023, at 10:00 p.m. ET
• Where: UFC Apex, Enterprise (Las Vegas), Nevada
• How to Watch: ESPN+

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Odds

Fighter	Odds
Song Yadong
Chris Gutiérrez

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Fight Preview

Song Yadong a.k.a. “The Kung Fu Kid” is 20-7 overall, with one more draw and one no contest. As his nickname suggests, he’s great at striking, although he doesn’t have a background in kung fu, but in sanda, which is a Chinese version of kickboxing.

He started practicing this martial art when he was 13 and made his professional MMA debut three years later. In addition to striking sports, Song Yadong also has experience with grappling, which explains why he’s never lost a fight by submission.

When it comes to his losses, one happened by disqualification, four by decision, one by knockout, and one by technical knockout. The TKO loss happened in 2022 after doctors realized he was unwell – Song was having triple vision after suffering an orbital fracture against Cody Sandhagen, but he kept on fighting.  

Since round 2, I was seeing triple vision because of this orbital fracture, I was facing three Cory in front of me. A titanium piece will put in for me next week, will come back tougher with the metal👊 pic.twitter.com/WVKZry3Vcl

— Song Yadong (@SongYadongLFG) September 28, 2022

He returned to the Octagon last April and destroyed Ricky Simon with punches, which earned him a place in the December 9 headliner. Originally, however, he was supposed to fight Petr Yan, but the Russian pulled out due to an injury.

Roughly a month ago, Chris Gutiérrez (20-5-2) was announced as Song’s new opponent. He’s similar to Yan in the sense that he too prefers fighting upright. Both land more than 5 significant strikes a minute, and both don’t get taken down easily.

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The biggest difference between the two is that Gutiérrez is much better than Yan when it comes to dodging opponent’s strikes. This explains why he’s never been KO-ed in his professional career.

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Song Yadong vs. Chris Gutiérrez Prediction

Song Yadong’s odds of -350 suggest he’s going to have an easy job on December 9. We agree that he’s a better fighter than Gutiérrez, but we don’t think he’s going to have an easy job in out-striking “El Guapo” on Saturday.

We do, however, think he’s got a better engine than him, so he’ll probably beat him up in the final round, which should be sufficient to win the judges’ vote.

Free Pick: