Song Yadong finished his opponent with a guillotine choke, continuing the Team Alpha Male tradition of the submission. The team has recorded over 10 guillotine finishes in top-level promotions, with Urijah Faber previously submitting Jens Pulver and Dominick Cruz with the technique.
Song Yadong secured a guillotine choke finish, adding another chapter to Team Alpha Male's long history with the technique and reinforcing the Sacramento-based gym's reputation as one of MMA's premier finishing factories.
The guillotine has become something of a calling card for Team Alpha Male. Urijah Faber, the gym's founder and one of the sport's most celebrated bantamweights and featherweights, built much of that tradition himself. Faber, now 47 and retired with a career record of 35 wins and 11 losses, was renowned for his submission game, averaging 0.8 submission attempts per 15 minutes throughout his career. Among his most notable guillotine victims were Jens Pulver and Dominick Cruz, two fighters who defined their respective eras at the lighter weight classes.
Pulver, nicknamed Little Evil, compiled a career record of 27-19-1 across a lengthy run in the sport. The southpaw stood five-foot-seven with a 70-inch reach and landed 2.12 significant strikes per minute over the course of his career. Cruz, known as The Dominator, went 24-4-0 in a decorated run that included multiple championship reigns. The five-foot-eight orthodox fighter averaged 3.91 significant strikes per minute and a strong 2.82 takedowns per 15 minutes, making his submission loss to Faber all the more notable.
Team Alpha Male has now recorded more than 10 guillotine finishes at the top level of the sport, and Song Yadong's latest effort pushes that total further.
Why it matters
- The finish reinforces Team Alpha Male's identity as a guillotine-specializing program with a documented finishing legacy
- Song Yadong's submission win adds to a lineage that includes victories over two historically significant opponents in Pulver and Cruz
- The technique's continued success across generations of Alpha Male fighters points to a deeply ingrained system rather than isolated results
