Yadong Song Believes Title Shot Looms if Marlon Vera Beats Sean O’Malley

Yadong Song is hoping for a callout if Marlon Vera beats Sean O'Malley in the main event at UFC 299 on Saturday.

O’Malley (17-1) will put his bantamweight title on the line against Vera (23-8) and is looking to avenge a technical knockout loss dating back to 2020. Vera’s win over O’Malley saw him bounce back from a “Fight of the Night” unanimous decision loss to Song, which “Chito” firmly believes he won.

While Song believes O’Malley will successfully defend his strap Saturday, he hopes to hear “and new," which might put him in line for a title shot next.

“I like Sean [O’Malley] you know,” Song said at media day. “I like his style, he’s smart and he definitely will win the fight. But I hope ‘Chito’ win, you know. If he wins, he may call me out because he always complain [about] our first match because he thought he won the fight. But three judges: they say I won the fight. He always complains about that. But I hope he does his best to win and call me out. [So that] I’m next the challenger.

“If ‘Chito’ wins, I would like to kick his ass again. I would like to fight him again. He always complains [that] he won the fight; I’m tired of that. Let’s go. Let’s rematch.”

Song takes on former champ Petr Yan (16-5) on the UFC 299 main card. While the Chinese national admits that Merab Dvalishvili is deserving of the next title shot, he isn’t completely counting himself out if he knocks out “No Mercy.”

“Right now, it seems like Merab [Dvalishvili] deserves the title [shot]; I agree with that. But if I knock Petr [Yan] out, maybe I’m next.”

Yan is currently on a three-fight skid, which includes a controversial split decision loss to O’Malley in 2022 that earned “Sugar” the title shot. However, Song, who believes the Russian beat O’Malley, still considers “No Mercy” an elite fighter and expects an improved skillset when he returns to action this weekend after nearly a year.

“Yeah, for sure. He was former champion and [a] top-level fighter and he had great striking. I believe he beat Sean [O’Malley] you know. So he definitely is [a] great fighter still. That long break won’t affect him any I think. Maybe give him more time to reflect on his skills and improve them.”