The Octagon headed to the Far East last weekend as the Chinese island of Macau played host to a UFC Fight Night card that featured a host of Chinese fighting talent, with their biggest male star, Song Yadong, topping the bill.
Here are our power rankings for the main card winners at UFC Fight Night: Song vs Figueiredo.
UFC Macau Power Rankings
1. Song Yadong
The man at the top of the fight card ends up at the top of our Power Rankings list. Song Yadong carried the weight of a nation on his shoulders as the fans desperately hoped that he claim the first, and only, Chinese win of the night. He also knew he needed to make a statement to force himself into the title picture at 135 pounds. The pressure was on, and he couldn’t afford to fluff his lines.
Thankfully for Song, and for the Chinese fans in attendance, he did quite the opposite. He delivered an outstanding performance to submit former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo in the second round.
It puts Song right in the mix for a title shot, and it gave the fans in Macau a real “I was there” moment as he nearly took the roof off the Galaxy Arena with his show-stealing victory.
2. Rodrigo Vera
Rodrigo Vera’s hopes of getting in the UFC looked dead in the water when he failed to make the cut for The Ultimate Fighter. But he stayed in Vegas, stayed ready, then got his chance. And boy did he take it.
Vera stepped in on short notice to face Zhu Kangjie, and needed less than two minutes to knock out the Chinese prospect as the Peruvian bantamweight made an instant impact. Now he’s in the UFC, it’ll be really fun to see how he progresses in a very exciting bantamweight division.
3. Kai Asakura
Kai Asakura is back at bantamweight, and back to his old self. The Japanese superstar kicked off his UFC career with two fights at flyweight, both of which ended in defeat. But on Saturday, he dropped down a level in opponent, and moved up a weight class, and got the result he desperately needed.
Sure, Cameron Smotherman isn’t a former world champion like Alexandre Pantoja, or a former title challenger like Tim Elliott, but when you face an opponent who hasn’t fought at the same level as you, you need to demonstrate that in your performance, and Asakura did exactly that. He demolished Smotherman in one minute, 50 seconds to get his first UFC win.
Kai Asakura at flyweight was depleted and compromised. Kai Asakura at bantamweight is a bad, bad man. He’s going to be a lot of fun to watch at 135 moving forward.
4. Alonzo Menifield
Alonzo Menifield has always had a reputation as a heavy-handed light heavyweight, but he hadn’t actually scored a knockout win since October 2022. That stat is in the trash now, however, thanks to Menifield’s thrilling first-round TKO of Chinese knockout artist Zhang Mingyang.
Given Zhang’s transparently predictable fighting strategy – walk forward, throw big shots – many wondered if Menifield might turn to his wrestling and ground game to control Zhang. But “Atomic” wasn’t here to drag things out.
Instead, Menifield bit down on his mouthpiece and went toe-to-toe with “The Mountain Tiger”. He took a few big shots along the way, but Menifield fought through the fire to eventually overwhelm Zhang to score the first-round finish in a bout that saw both men handed $100,000 Fight of the Night bonuses.
With a big win, a six-figure payday, and his ranking spot successfully defended, Menifield can now set his sights on the contenders ahead of him in the light heavyweight rankings. And if he continues to trust his power in MMA gloves, he’s going to be a difficult man to deal with.
5. Angela Hill
A matchup that I had circled as a sleeper for Fight of the Night delivered a really fun scrap as UFC vet Angela Hill welcomed former ONE Championship strawweight champion Xiong Jingnan to the UFC.
Xiong fought relatively well, but Hill was outstanding. “Overkill” looked the best we’ve seen from her in years as she outstruck and outworked the usually relentless Xiong, frustrating her with off-rhythm strikes, and hurting her to the body as she mixed up her striking game superbly.
It was an excellent all-around performance that probably won’t get the shine it deserves from the wider UFC fanbase, as not everyone is aware of how good Xiong can be. But Hill deserves all the credit for that win.
It was a good learning fight for Xiong, who will bounce back to better performances in the future, but Saturday was Hill’s night, as she claimed the 19th win of her career.