Yadong Song Shuts Out Chris Gutierrez in UFC Fight Night 233 Main Event

Yadong Song sees himself as a serious contender in the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight division. Perhaps he has a point.

The burgeoning Team Alpha Male star handled his business with all-terrain expertise and laid claim to a unanimous decision over Chris Gutierrez in the UFC Fight Night 233 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Song (21-7-1, 10-2-1 UFC) swept the scorecards with 50-44, 50-45 and 50-45 marks from the cageside judges, winning for the fifth time in six assignments.

Outside of a steady diet of leg kicks and a sensational front kick to the face in the second round, Gutierrez (20-6-2, 8-3-1 UFC) was not much of a factor. Song connected with the heavier punches, controlled the center of the cage and kept the Factory X rep in a constant state of retreat. He incorporated takedowns in the second, third and fourth rounds, pairing them with positional control and ground-and-pound. Gutierrez, in what can only be described as an ill-conceived tactic, rolled for an attempted leg lock inside the first 30 seconds of Round 5. It failed miserably, forcing him to retreat to his back and spend the rest of the bout pinned underneath his opponent.

Explosive Rountree Stops Smith

Syndicate MMA’s Khalil Rountree cut down Anthony Smith with punches in the third round of their light heavyweight co-main event. Smith (37-19, 12-9 UFC) met his end 56 seconds into Round 3, as the Factory X export suffered his third defeat in four appearances.

Rountree (13-5, 9-5 UFC) dialed up lightning-quick punches from both hands, mixed in kicks when the situation called for it and more than held his own in the clinch. He walked the aggressive Smith into his jab over and over again, wobbled him with a counter right hook in the second round and made sure to leave his imprint on the match. Rountree cut loose with a right uppercut early in Round 3 and backed it up with a sweeping left hook. The concussive force of the blows put Smith on skates and sent him tumbling backward into a defenseless position, prompting the stoppage.

The 33-year-old Rountree has won five fights in a row, four of them finishes.

Resurgent Haqparast Zaps Mullarkey

Tristar Gym rep Nasrat Haqparast put away Jamie Mullarkey with punches in the first round of their lightweight attraction. Mullarkey (17-7, 5-5 UFC) checked out 1:44 into Round 1, losing for the second time in three outings.

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The 28-year-old Haqparast (16-5, 8-4 UFC) sat down the Aussie with a laser beam of a straight left, then gave chase. A hellacious volley of rapid-fire uppercuts followed, as Mullarkey stood in a dazed-and-confused state before collapsing to his knees. Referee Keith Peterson gave him every chance to recover before electing to wave it off.

Haqparast has rattled off three straight victories.

Elliott Arm-Triangle Sleeps Mudaerji

“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 24 winner Tim Elliott stepped in as a short-notice replacement for Allan Nascimento and choked Su Mudaerji unconscious with an arm-triangle in the first round of their bantamweight feature. Mudaerji (16-6, 3-3 UFC) lost his grip on reality 4:02 into Round 1.

Elliott (20-13-1, 9-11 UFC) followed a close-range elbow strike into a takedown and settled in side control. From there, the onetime Titan Fighting Championship titleholder dropped elbows, lulled Mudaerji into a false sense of security and moved on the arm-triangle as soon as the opportunity presented itself. Elliott’s squeeze did the rest.

All six of Mudaerji’s losses have resulted in submission.

Determined Muniz Stifles Park

Repeated takedowns, positional advances and stifling control carried former Bitetti Combat champion Andre Muniz to a split decision over Jun Yong Park in a three-round middleweight appetizer. All three cageside judges scored it 29-28, two of them siding with Muniz, who entered the cage on the heels of back-to-back defeats to Brendan Allen and Paul Craig.

Muniz (24-6, 6-2 UFC) executed takedowns and progressed to the back in all three-rounds, applied some mild ground-and-pound and hunted chokes. Park (17-6, 7-3 UFC) stayed composed under considerable duress. He managed to sweep into top position in the first and third rounds, at which point he unleashed his hands and elbows. However, those bursts of offense were not enough for Park to overcome his deficiencies elsewhere.

The setback snapped Park’s four-fight winning streak.