Song Yadong was finished by a guillotine choke representing the Team Alpha Male fighting style. Urijah Faber previously submitted Jens Pulver and Dominick Cruz with the technique, and including finishes by Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez, the gym has recorded over 10 top-level guillotine submissions.
Song Yadong has been finished by a guillotine choke, becoming the third UFC champion submitted by a Team Alpha Male fighter using that technique, according to a report dated May 30, 2026.
The finish continues a remarkable legacy built by Urijah Faber and the Sacramento-based gym. Faber, now 47 and retired with a 35-11-0 professional record, was the pioneer of that guillotine in high-profile competition, famously submitting both Jens Pulver and Dominick Cruz during his career. The 40-percent striking accuracy and 0.8 submission attempts per 15 minutes that defined Faber's game helped establish Team Alpha Male as one of the most submission-dangerous camps in the sport's lighter divisions.
Pulver, who finished his career 27-19-1 and competed as a southpaw out of a five-foot-seven frame, was among the earliest high-profile victims of that style. Cruz, the 41-year-old veteran known as The Dominator, carried a 24-4-0 record and was a two-time UFC bantamweight champion before his own submission loss to Faber became part of that lineage.
Why it matters
- Song Yadong's finish marks the third UFC champion submitted by Team Alpha Male via guillotine, underlining the gym's sustained elite-level grappling identity.
- Including finishes credited to Chad Mendes and Joseph Benavidez, the gym has now logged more than ten top-level guillotine submissions, a rare institutional trademark.
- The result carries immediate divisional weight, reshaping the bantamweight title picture and raising questions about who steps in as the division's next contender.
