Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong UFC Fight Night 252 Odds, Time, and Prediction

Henry Cejudo is a UFC legend who was a two-division king for almost two years before vacating the championship belt to retire. He came out of retirement in 2023 and is 2-0 since.

At the age of 38, he doesn’t have too many fights left to fight, which is why beating Song Yadong at UFC Fight Night 252 is a must. Another loss could mean that he needs to retire for good this time.

Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong Odds

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When, Where, and How to Watch?

• Place: Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington
• Date: Saturday, February 22, 2025
• Time: 11:00 p.m. ET
• How to Watch: ESPN+

Henry Cejudo’s Odds Suggest He Will Lose at UFC Fight Night 252

Henry Cejudo is an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling who’s 16-4 in mixed martial arts. While he’s a phenomenal wrestler who lands roughly two takedowns per fight, his preferred finishing method is knockout.

At least, that was the case back in the day. What we’re talking about is the period from 2018 to 2020, when he decided to retire. For most of the time in that period, he was in possession of two titles – Bantamweight and Flyweight.

We think that his decision to retire wasn’t a smart one as he was in his prime at the time. An even worse decision was to unretire three years later. He was given a shot at the UFC Bantamweight title straight away, but Aljamain Sterling beat him by a split decision.

A year later, he fought again, this time against Merab Dvalishvili in a sort of title eliminator bout. The Georgian fighter beat him by unanimous decision. What’s interesting is that in those fights, Cejudo got taken down 9 times in total. The same probably won’t happen on February 22 as his next opponent is all about striking.

Will Song Yadong Retire Henry Cejudo?

Song Yadong is 11 years younger than Cejudo but has already fought 11 fights more than him. He’s 21-8-2 overall with a 10-4 record since joining the UFC eight years ago. 

He’s a hell of a striker, which explains how he got his fighting nickname “Kung Fu Kid.” The Chinese fighter lands 4.49 significant strikes per minute, which is one of the highest numbers in the UFC Bantamweight Division.

His takedown defense is 72%, but the fact is that he’s not an elite wrestler. In fact, in each UFC fight that he lost, we saw him get taken down at least twice. This could be a major problem against such a takedown master as Cejudo.

Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong Prediction

If Cejudo loses on Saturday, he can retire again. If he wins, however, we could see him rise in the UFC Bantamweight Rankings and possibly even get another shot at the title. Knowing this, it’s clear that he will go all-in.

He won’t lack any motivation on February 22, but the question remains whether he’s got the skillset to beat Song Yadong. We think he does – he’s a hell of a wrestler who can ragdoll his opponent and beat him by ground-and-pound.

Pick: Henry Cejudo