Song is a very good fighter and has been for a while. But he went to team Alpha Male for a reason and that reason was to work on wrestling. But he is still being taken down by most people who try. But I don't even think Umar needs takedowns to win here. I think Umar can out strike Song as well. Song is a powerful and fast, but he tends of overcommit and it takes him a little while to reset. Umar is light on his feet and can snap things out and back before most people see what happened because they were spending too much time worrying about the takedowns that may or may not come. Being a Nurmagomedov comes with a reputation and that reputation has opponents focused so much on wrestling, they forget that strikes will also be coming their way. Song could absolutely pull off the upset here, especially at home and especially if you look at how they both handled Figgy, but Umar is the pick and likely earns himself another title shot.

Umar Nurmagomedov

Umar Nurmagomedov is exactly the type of fighter you expect him to be with that last name. He has 9 fights in the UFC with 34 takedowns, close to an hour of control time, two submission and a knockout. He uses kicks really well to stay out of range and then he comes charging in with his wrestling and looks for takedowns. If he misses the first, he will transition to the second and has amazing chain wrestling. He is coming off the slow, but one sided win over Deiveson Figueredo.

Yadong Song

Song Yadong is a technical striker who moves well. He's fast, he hits hard and he's athletic, but he can be hittable at almost 4 significant strikes absorbed per minute. He throws everything with power which can leave him open to takedowns, but he's very good at creating space and getting back to his feet. He does like to dictate the pace, but did show us that even when fighting a very good grappler, like Ricky Simon, he will let his hands go and trusts his defense. He is coming off the second round submission win over Deiveson Figueredo.