Compare Aiemann Zahabi vs Song Yadong — UFC matchup breakdown
Tale of the Tape
The biometric deltas where one side genuinely has an edge.
Activity & layoff
The recency dimension Tale of the Tape doesn't carry. How active each fighter has been, and how that compares to active peers in their division.
- Aiemann is speeding up while opponent slows
Division percentiles below rank both fighters against the Bantamweight roster (341 fighters).
Recent form
Last five pro bouts (non-UFC fights dashed + tagged), current trajectory, and the level of opposition going into this matchup.
Common opponents
Every UFC opponent both fighters have faced — a direct comparison controlling for matchmaking.
Schedule Score
Who they've faced × what they've done. Composite + components compared head-to-head, percentile-ranked against every UFC fighter w/ ≥3 resolved bouts.
Per-tier records + bout-by-bout
| Tier | Aiemann Zahabi | Song Yadong |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | 1-1 | 1-2 |
| Top-5 | 2-0 | 2-1 |
| Top-15 | — | 4-1-1 |
| Cross-div ranked | — | 1-0 |
| Established | 0-1 | 1-0 |
| Building | 2-0 | 1-0 |
| Unproven | 3-1 | 2-0 |
- L vs Sean O'Malley#394Jun 14, 2026 · Champion
- W vs Marlon Vera#778Oct 18, 2025 · Top-5
- W vs Jose Aldo#1487May 10, 2025 · Champion
- W vs Pedro Munhoz#1574Nov 2, 2024 · Top-5
- W vs Javid Basharat18Mar 2, 2024 · Building
- W vs Aoriqileng18Jun 10, 2023 · Building
- W vs Ricky Turcios8Jul 9, 2022 · Unproven
- W vs Drako Rodriguez8Feb 20, 2021 · Unproven
- L vs Vince Morales8May 4, 2019 · Unproven
- L vs Ricardo Ramos22Nov 4, 2017 · Established
- W vs Reginaldo Vieira8Feb 19, 2017 · Unproven
- W vs Deiveson Figueiredo#781May 30, 2026 · Top-5
- L vs Sean O'Malley#394Jan 24, 2026 · Champion
- W vs Henry Cejudo#794Feb 22, 2025 · Champion
- L vs Petr Yan#493Mar 9, 2024 · Champion
- W vs Chris Gutierrez#1464Dec 9, 2023 · Top-15
- W vs Ricky Simon#1068Apr 29, 2023 · Top-15
- L vs Cory Sandhagen#485Sep 17, 2022 · Top-5
- W vs Marlon Moraes#1082Mar 12, 2022 · Top-5
- W vs Julio Arce26Nov 13, 2021 · Established
- W vs Casey Kenney#1560Aug 7, 2021 · Top-15
- L vs Kyler Phillips47Mar 6, 2021 · Top-15
- W vs Marlon Vera45May 16, 2020 · Cross-div ranked
- D vs Cody Stamann#970Dec 7, 2019 · Top-15
- W vs Alejandro Perez#1464Jul 6, 2019 · Top-15
- W vs Vince Morales8Nov 24, 2018 · Unproven
- W vs Felipe Arantes22Jun 23, 2018 · Building
- W vs Bharat Kandare8Nov 25, 2017 · Unproven
All figures are 0–100 ratings (shown as %), not percentages of anything literal. Schedule strength = the average quality of every UFC opponent faced (win or lose). Win quality = the average quality of the opponents actually beaten. The composite Schedule Score combines schedule strength (65%) with win quality (35%). Per-bout opponent quality is scored on rank-at-time-of-fight (champion 100, ranks 1–5 = 90→78, ranks 6–15 = 75→60), with cross-division and P4P signals layered on, falling back to opponent UFC record-at-time for unranked opponents. For fighters with limited UFC experience the headline is held toward a rookie baseline, so debut / low-sample fighters read lower than established names. UFC ranking data is sparse before December 2018, so legacy-era fighters score from record-at-time when ranks are missing.
Career splits
Striking matchup
Each fighter's offense mapped against the other's defense — where one attacks meets where the other gets hit, across head, body, and leg. Per 15 minutes of UFC fight time.
Zahabi has the striking edge (+9).
Where Zahabi attacks (green = high volume) vs where Yadong gets hit (red = vulnerable) — Zahabi’s green zones meeting Yadong’s red zones are the openings.
- Head69%81st403
- Body16%57th91
- Leg15%68th88
Color = division rank · green elite → red low · % = share of strikes
- Head58%48th485
- Body20%41st172
- Leg22%25th185
Color = division rank · green elite → red low · % = share absorbed · partly opponent-dependent
- Standing91%529
- Clinch4%21
- Ground5%32
- Standing91%763
- Clinch5%38
- Ground5%41
Each lane: the attacker’s strike rate (offense) vs the other’s rate absorbed (defense), graded on the division. The bar leans toward whoever wins the exchange — longer + greener = a bigger, higher-quality edge.
Full breakdown — all zones, both views
| Zone | Fighter | Landed / 15 | Accuracy | Absorbed / 15 | Career landed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Head | Aiemann Zahabi | top 19% of division42.6 | 42% | below division average37.9 | 403 |
| Head | Song Yadong | top 27% of division38.4 | 35% | around division average33.6 | 587 |
| Body | Aiemann Zahabi | above division average10.6 | 65% | below division average12.4 | 91 |
| Body | Song Yadong | above division average12.1 | 67% | below division average11.7 | 182 |
| Leg | Aiemann Zahabi | above division average9.6 | 75% | below division average10.2 | 88 |
| Leg | Song Yadong | top 17% of division12.1 | 78% | well below average12.0 | 189 |
Per-15-minute rates are sourced from UFCStats fight totals across each fighter’s UFC career. Division percentile is computed against every UFC fighter who has competed in this weight class with at least two recorded bouts. Lower “absorbed” values are better — the percentile is inverted so “top of division” always means better outcome.
Grappling matchup
Takedowns, submission threat, and control. Per 15 minutes of UFC fight time, with takedown defense as a percentage of opponent attempts stopped.
Each metric graded on the division — the bar leans toward whoever wins that part of the grappling exchange (longer + greener = a bigger edge).
Yadong has the grappling edge (+10).
Full breakdown — career grappling totals
| Metric | Aiemann Zahabi | Song Yadong |
|---|---|---|
| Takedowns landed / 15career takedowns | 0.11 | 0.812 |
| Takedown accuracycareer landed / attempted | 14%1 / 7 | 41%12 / 29 |
| Takedown defensecareer stopped / faced | 84%26 / 31 | 74%48 / 65 |
| Submission attempts / 15career attempts | 0.00 | 0.23 |
| Control time / 15 (min)career total | 0.6 min5:33 | 2.0 min29:27 |
| Time controlled by opponent / 15 (min)career total | 0.4 min3:10 | 1.3 min19:11 |
All rates computed from UFCStats fight totals across each fighter’s UFC career. Takedown defense = opponent attempts stopped ÷ opponent total attempts. Control time figures are minutes the fighter spent in a dominant position per 15 minutes of fight time. Accuracy under 8 career attempts is shown raw and ungraded — too small a sample to rate against the division.
Finishing & durability
How often each fighter ends fights early — and how often they get put away. Outcomes view, not per-minute output.
When their fights end
every pro finish on the fight clockFinish & durability rates
Full professional career
Full method breakdown
| Outcome | Aiemann Zahabi | Song Yadong |
|---|---|---|
| Wins | ||
| by KO / TKO | 6(43%) | 9(39%) |
| by submission | 2(14%) | 4(17%) |
| by decision | 6(43%) | 10(43%) |
| other | 0(0%) | 0(0%) |
| Losses | ||
| by KO / TKO | 1(50%) | 2(22%) |
| by submission | 0(0%) | 0(0%) |
| by decision | 1(50%) | 6(67%) |
| other | 0(0%) | 1(11%) |
Full professional career method splits, graded against the full-pro division distribution. Career KO losses are the total — clean knockouts and cut/injury stoppages can’t be separated outside the UFC corpus. Finish-time pace is UFC-only.
KO history
UFC fights only — knockout power and chin durability, head-to-head, then when the last finish landed, and on whom.
- Last time KO'dvs Sean O'Malley10 days agoUFC Freedom 250 · Jun 14, 2026 · R2 · 4:02
- Last time submittedNever submitted in the UFC
- Last time KO'dvs Cory Sandhagen3y 9mo agoUFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Song · Sep 17, 2022 · R4 · 5:00* doctor stoppage · not a clean KO
- Last time submittedNever submitted in the UFC
Pace & fade
How each fighter's work rate holds up as a fight wears on — round-by-round output (striking, takedown attempts, and control time combined), and whether they fade. The fade % compares round-3 output to round 1 over bouts that reached the third round.
Both lean the same way, but Zahabi leans harder: Zahabi builds (+32% per round through round 3), Yadong builds (+19% per round through round 3). Within fights that reached round 3, Zahabi lifts to 186% of round-1 output by round 3, Yadong 149%.
Rounds backed by fewer than 2 bouts are drawn smaller and dimmed with an n= count — a deep round seen in one or two fights is a thin sample, not a settled rate. Per-round bout counts are in the breakdown below.
Full per-round breakdown — both fighters
What drives the pace · per round
The composite output line above blends these three inputs. Splitting them out shows whether a fighter’s work rate is built on striking volume, takedown pressure, or top control — and which input fades.
| Round | Fighter | Output / min | Sig landed / min | Sig absorbed / min | TD att / min | Control | Bouts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Aiemann Zahabi | 3.4 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 0.04 | 4% | 11 |
| R1 | Song Yadong | 4.0 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 0.05 | 8% | 17 |
| R2 | Aiemann Zahabi | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 0.05 | 2% | 9 |
| R2 | Song Yadong | 5.9 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 0.20 | 14% | 14 |
| R3 | Aiemann Zahabi | 6.6 | 6.1 | 5.3 | 0.08 | 8% | 8 |
| R3 | Song Yadong | 6.0 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 0.20 | 8% | 11 |
| R4 | Aiemann Zahabi | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| R4 | Song Yadong | 4.9 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 0.07 | 33% | 3 |
| R5 | Aiemann Zahabi | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| R5 | Song Yadong | 9.5 | 6.3 | 1.0 | 0.00 | 79% | 2 |
Output / minis the headline work rate — significant strikes landed, plus 3 per takedown attempt, plus one per 15 seconds of control — so a takedown-and-grind round isn’t scored as idle the way bare striking volume would. The remaining columns are its components. Per-round rates use UFCStats per-round data (available for ~95% of bouts since 2008). Each round’s rates are averaged only over bouts that reached that round, so the bout count shrinks as rounds deepen. The final round of a finished fight is pro-rated by its actual length — a 2:30 stoppage counts as 2.5 minutes, not five — so an early finish doesn’t distort the per-minute pace.