UFC 259: Song Yadong somehow eats huge head kick but unbeaten run ended by ‘Matrix’ Kyler Phillips

American bantamweight Kyler Phillips left nothing to chance on Saturday night as he brought the unbeaten run in the UFC of China’s Song Yadong to an end with a unanimous decision on the UFC 259 card.

The 14th-ranked Song (16-2-1, one no contest) had ridden his luck in his two previous bouts – a win over Ecuador’s Marlon Vera (16-7-1) at featherweight and a draw with 13th-ranked American Cody Stamann (19-3-1) at bantamweight.

But Phillips (9-1) had obviously watched the tapes of those bouts relentlessly and he managed to keep clear of Song’s fists, and come at his opponent from angles the Chinese fighter could never quite counter.

There were also some highlight-reel flourishes from the 25-year-old Phillips, too – including a high kick to the head that didn’t seem to bother the 23-year-old Song too much but had the cageside commentary team wondering how he was still standing.

“I’ve knocked people out with this tattoo,” Phillips said post-fight, pointing to the ink on this right shin. “I landed that head kick on him and I was really quite surprised [Song was still standing]. It let me know that ‘Hey, you’re in the big show.’ If you’re gunna break top-15 those guys are not just going to fall. But this is my time. I’m coming up and I’m going for that belt.”

Song had predicted coming in that unranked Phillips would be looking for a showreel finish – saying he needed to watch for the spinning fists or flying knees “The Matrix” tends to fancy.