Compare Merab Dvalishvili 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.
- Merab has 5 months more layoff
- Merab 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 | Merab Dvalishvili | Song Yadong |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | 4-1 | 1-2 |
| Top-5 | 4-0 | 2-1 |
| Top-15 | 3-2 | 4-1-1 |
| Cross-div ranked | — | 1-0 |
| Established | — | 1-0 |
| Building | 1-0 | 1-0 |
| Unproven | 2-0 | 2-0 |
- L vs Petr Yan#394Dec 6, 2025 · Champion
- W vs Cory Sandhagen#485Oct 4, 2025 · Top-5
- W vs Sean O'Malley#197Jun 7, 2025 · Champion
- W vs Umar Nurmagomedov#289Jan 18, 2025 · Top-5
- W vs Sean O'MalleyCHAMP100Sep 14, 2024 · Champion
- W vs Henry Cejudo#397Feb 17, 2024 · Champion
- W vs Petr Yan#296Mar 11, 2023 · Champion
- W vs Jose Aldo#389Aug 20, 2022 · Top-5
- W vs Marlon Moraes#685Sep 25, 2021 · Top-5
- W vs Cody Stamann#1368May 1, 2021 · Top-15
- W vs John Dodson#1270Aug 15, 2020 · Top-15
- W vs Gustavo Lopez8Jun 13, 2020 · Unproven
- W vs Casey Kenney#1560Feb 15, 2020 · Top-15
- W vs Brad Katona15May 4, 2019 · Building
- W vs Terrion Ware8Sep 15, 2018 · Unproven
- L vs Ricky Simon47Apr 21, 2018 · Top-15
- L vs Frankie Saenz#1564Dec 9, 2017 · Top-15
- 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.
Evenly matched striking — no clear edge either way.
Where Dvalishvili attacks (green = high volume) vs where Yadong gets hit (red = vulnerable) — Dvalishvili’s green zones meeting Yadong’s red zones are the openings.
- Head67%81st880
- Body17%62nd229
- Leg16%73rd213
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
- Standing64%841
- Clinch15%197
- Ground21%284
- 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 | Merab Dvalishvili | top 19% of division42.5 | 34% | above division average26.3 | 880 |
| Head | Song Yadong | top 27% of division38.4 | 35% | around division average33.6 | 587 |
| Body | Merab Dvalishvili | above division average11.4 | 69% | below division average11.3 | 229 |
| Body | Song Yadong | above division average12.1 | 67% | below division average11.7 | 182 |
| Leg | Merab Dvalishvili | top 27% of division10.4 | 85% | above division average6.4 | 213 |
| 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).
Dvalishvili has the grappling edge (+18).
Full breakdown — career grappling totals
| Metric | Merab Dvalishvili | Song Yadong |
|---|---|---|
| Takedowns landed / 15career takedowns | 6.0119 | 0.812 |
| Takedown accuracycareer landed / attempted | 35%119 / 338 | 41%12 / 29 |
| Takedown defensecareer stopped / faced | 76%38 / 50 | 74%48 / 65 |
| Submission attempts / 15career attempts | 0.47 | 0.23 |
| Control time / 15 (min)career total | 5.4 min107:25 | 2.0 min29:27 |
| Time controlled by opponent / 15 (min)career total | 0.8 min15:45 | 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 | Merab Dvalishvili | Song Yadong |
|---|---|---|
| Wins | ||
| by KO / TKO | 3(14%) | 9(39%) |
| by submission | 2(10%) | 4(17%) |
| by decision | 16(76%) | 10(43%) |
| other | 0(0%) | 0(0%) |
| Losses | ||
| by KO / TKO | 0(0%) | 2(22%) |
| by submission | 1(20%) | 0(0%) |
| by decision | 4(80%) | 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'dNever finished by strikes in the UFC
- Last time submittedvs Ricky Simon8y 2mo agoUFC Fight Night: Barboza vs. Lee · Apr 21, 2018 · R3 · 5:00
- 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 Yadong leans harder: Yadong builds (+17% per round through round 5), Dvalishvili builds (+7% per round through round 5). Within fights that reached round 3, Dvalishvili lifts to 110% 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 | Merab Dvalishvili | 8.4 | 4.1 | 3.0 | 1.02 | 31% | 17 |
| R1 | Song Yadong | 4.0 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 0.05 | 8% | 17 |
| R2 | Merab Dvalishvili | 9.2 | 4.3 | 2.4 | 1.07 | 43% | 17 |
| R2 | Song Yadong | 5.9 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 0.20 | 14% | 14 |
| R3 | Merab Dvalishvili | 9.2 | 4.1 | 2.2 | 1.17 | 39% | 16 |
| R3 | Song Yadong | 6.0 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 0.20 | 8% | 11 |
| R4 | Merab Dvalishvili | 10.4 | 6.1 | 4.2 | 1.04 | 30% | 5 |
| R4 | Song Yadong | 4.9 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 0.07 | 33% | 3 |
| R5 | Merab Dvalishvili | 11.3 | 5.2 | 4.0 | 1.68 | 25% | 5 |
| 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.