Song Yadong submitted Deiveson Figueiredo with a guillotine choke, continuing Team Alpha Male's legacy with the technique. Urijah Faber previously used the same submission to defeat Jens Pulver and Dominick Cruz. The team has recorded over 10 finishes with the guillotine across top promotions.
Song Yadong claimed UFC gold on May 30, 2026, submitting Deiveson Figueiredo with a guillotine choke to become the latest champion produced by Team Alpha Male's grappling system.
The finish added another chapter to a storied tradition built by team founder Urijah Faber. The 47-year-old American, who compiled a professional record of 35-11-0 over his career, made the guillotine a signature weapon throughout his bantamweight and featherweight runs. Fighting out of an orthodox stance at five-foot-six with a 67-inch reach, Faber averaged 0.8 submission attempts per 15 minutes and landed 2.65 significant strikes per minute at 40 percent accuracy — a relentless pace that set the template for fighters who followed him through the Sacramento gym.
Two of Faber's guillotine victims were among the sport's most recognizable names. Jens Pulver, the southpaw lightweight pioneer known as Little Evil, finished his career at 27-19-1 at the age of 51. Dominick Cruz, the 41-year-old Orthodox technician nicknamed The Dominator, carries a 24-4-0 record and remains one of the sharpest strikers in bantamweight history, landing 3.91 significant strikes per minute while mixing in 2.82 takedown attempts per 15 minutes. Both men felt the same choke that Song Yadong now employs.
Why it matters
- Team Alpha Male has recorded more than 10 guillotine finishes across top promotions, making it one of the most identifiable submission systems in MMA.
- Song Yadong's title win confirms the technique translates to the UFC's highest level, against a former champion in Figueiredo.
- The lineage from Faber through Cruz and Pulver to Song underscores how a single team's submission culture can shape multiple weight classes across generations.
