Tag: Yair Rodriguez

UFC Fight Night 237 video: Yair Rodriguez, Brian Ortega show love at final faceoff

Check out the final staredown between Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega ahead of their co-main event bout at UFC Fight Night 237.

MEXICO CITY – [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag] had their final staredown ahead of their co-main event bout at UFC Fight Night 237.

As expected, the two featherweight contenders kept respectful during their faceoff. Rodriguez (18-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) and Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) are set to clash in a five-round co-main event, which takes place Saturday at Mexico City Arena (ESPN+).

Rodriguez and Ortega fought back in 2022. The bout ended in a TKO win due to injury for Rodriguez, as Ortega injured his shoulder in a grappling exchange. This is Ortega’s first fight since the injury.

Check out the video above to see the staredown between Rodriguez and Ortega from the UFC ceremonial weigh-Ins.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.

UFC Fight Night 237 video: Yair Rodriguez, Brian Ortega on weight for Mexico City rematch

The co-main event of UFC Fight Night 237 is official after both Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega made the featherweight limit.

MEXICO CITY – The co-main event of UFC Fight Night 237 is official after [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag] came in at the limit of their featherweight bout.

Ahead of the UFC’s return to Mexico, which takes place Saturday at Mexico City Arena and streams on ESPN+, both Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) vs. and Rodriguez (18-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) came in at 146 pounds, making their five-round co-main event bout official.

The two fought back in 2022. The bout ended in a TKO win due to injury for Rodriguez, as Ortega injured his shoulder in a grappling exchange. This is Ortega’s first fight since the injury.

Check out the video from their trips to the scale above.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.

Yair Rodriguez never wanted to fight Brian Ortega, but can’t wait to ‘f*ck up’ Ilia Topuria

Just the mention of UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria is enough to cause Yair Rodriguez to spew expletives.

MEXICO CITY – [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] has typically been one of the most respectful fighters in the UFC, but there is one man on the roster who fills him with rage.

Rodriguez (18-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) has his hands filled with a rematch against Brian Ortega in the co-feature of UFC Fight Night 237, but when asked about the current featherweight champion Ilia Topuria, Rodriguez began spewing expletives into the microphone.

“I would love to f*ck him up,” Rodriguez told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “I don’t want to fight him, I want to f*ck him up. There’s a f*cking big difference on that, just to make that clear. And anywhere I f*cking see him, I’ll f*ck him up.

“… F*ck this b*tch. I don’t f*cking like him.”

Topuria and Rodriguez have taken shots at each other in interviews and social media posts over recent months, which has caused tensions to boil over. As it stands today, Rodriguez doesn’t believe he would be able to control himself if he was in the same room with Topuria.

“I don’t normally get into this kind of situation with nobody, I’m really respectful,” Rodriguez said. “But this f*cking guy, you know, I just don’t really like him. I don’t like him. I don’t have to f*cking like him. I want to f*ck him up. That’s what I want to do.”

“El Pantera” may have the opportunity to settle his differences with “El Matador” inside the octagon, but first he has to get past Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) again in what he believes is a title eliminator fight.

The pair first met in the main event of UFC on ABC 2 in July 2022. The bout ended abruptly during a grappling exchange in the first round after Ortega suffered a shoulder injury.

Contrary to how he feels about Topuria, Rodriguez admits he never wanted to fight his friend Ortega the first time around and isn’t exactly thrilled to do so for a second time. However, sometimes in the fight game, friends must fight to reach the top of the division, and that’s the position that Rodriguez finds himself in again.

“It’s always weird. I never wanted to fight the guy,” Rodriguez said. “This time is no different. I like his family, I like him. He’s Mexican, so it’s not the same feeling. It’s a job we have to do. Not something that I really wanted to do.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.

UFC Mexico video: Yair Rodriguez faces off with Brian Ortega and his sons at media day

Brian Ortega had some backup for his first faceoff with Yair Rodriguez ahead of their UFC Fight Night 237 rematch.

MEXICO CITY – [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] and [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag] got their first face-to-face ahead of their second meeting.

The two featherweight contenders faced off at the UFC Fight Night 237 media day on Wednesday at the host hotel. Included in the faceoff were Ortega’s two sons.

Rodriguez (18-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) and Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) are set to clash in a five-round co-main event, which takes place Saturday at Mexico City Arena (ESPN+).

Rodriguez and Ortega fought back in 2022. The bout ended in a TKO win due to injury for Rodriguez, as Ortega injured his shoulder in a grappling exchange. This is Ortega’s first fight since the injury.

Check out the video above to see the staredown between Rodriguez and Ortega from UFC Fight Night 237 media day.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.

Video: UFC Fight Night 237 media day live stream

Check out the live stream of Wednesday’s UFC Fight Night 237 media day in Mexico City.

MEXICO CITY – UFC Fight Night 237, which takes place at Mexico City Arena and airs on ESPN+, goes down Saturday.

Before fight night arrives, though, notable athletes such as [autotag]Brandon Moreno[/autotag], [autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag], [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag], [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag], and other fighters from the card are scheduled to speak to reporters Wednesday at media day.

MMA Junkie will be on-site to provide coverage. Check below for the individual interviews from media day, as well as the live stream above.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 237.

UFC Fight Night 237 pre-event facts: Can Brian Ortega avoid fourth loss in five fights?

The best facts about UFC Fight Night 237, which features the return of Brian Ortega, who looks to get his career back on track.

The UFC returns to Mexico for the seventh time in its history on Saturday with UFC Fight Night 237, which takes place at Mexico City Arena in Mexico City and streams on ESPN+.

The main event will see former champion [autotag]Brandon Moreno[/autotag] (21-7-2 MMA, 9-3-2 UFC) take on [autotag]Brandon Royval[/autotag] (15-7 MMA, 5-3 UFC) in a rematch of their November 2020 bout, which Moreno won by first-round TKO.

For more on the numbers behind the headliner, as well as the rest of the card, check below for MMA Junkie’s post-event facts from UFC Fight Night 237.

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Brandon Moreno vs. Brandon Royval

Yair Rodriguez bothered by Ilia Topuria’s brashness before UFC 298: ‘I respect everybody but this guy’

As far as Yair Rodriguez is concerned, Ilia Topuria cannot afford to lose to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 – not after all his talking.

[autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] doesn’t think [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] can afford to lose to UFC featherweight champion [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag].

Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) challenges Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 298 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Topuria’s brash nature has rubbed Rodriguez the wrong way. The undefeated contender said if he dethrones Volkanovski, he won’t defend his title against Rodriguez, Max Holloway, or Brian Ortega. Instead, he’ll go after Conor McGregor, and Rodriguez thinks he’s delusional.

“He’ll talk sh*t about whomever,” Rodriguez said on “The MMA Hour.” “He’s mentioning Canelo (Alvarez), he’s mentioning (Conor) McGregor. Why do you think he’s doing that? Because he’s marketing. He’ll never get to face somebody like McGregor. He’ll never get to face somebody like Canelo. Of course not.”

With everything Topuria has said, including his prediction of a first-round knockout, Rodriguez thinks a loss would be a terrible look for him.

“His career will be over after this fight against Volkanovski,” Rodriguez said. “He’s been talking so much sh*t, saying so many things, and people are going to f*cking be laughing at him after this.”

Rodriguez (16-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) runs things back with Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in a UFC Fight Night co-headliner Feb. 24 in Mexico City. Although he’s picking Volkanovski to win, he isn’t necessarily rooting for him.

“I’m like neutral, you know? Whomever wins, wins, whatever,” Rodriguez said. “But I don’t really see Topuria winning. That’s my honest opinion.”

Rodriguez won’t campaign for Topuria right away if he loses to Volkanovski. However, he’d love to get his hands on him at some point.

“If I win my fight against Brian Ortega, which I’m planning on doing, and Alexander Volkanovski wins, I would like to face Volkanovski, of course,” Rodriguez said. “Because why would I face (Topuria coming off a loss)? Like, he has nothing to offer.

“But anyway, I would like to face him at some point. I would like to f*ck him up. Especially like if UFC plans and goes to Spain, f*ck, man, I’ll f*cking fight in Spain because it’s his house. I would love to f*cking beat him in his f*cking house. I respect everybody but this guy.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

UFC Mexico: Yair Rodriguez a slight favorite to beat Brian Ortega again

Despite the abrupt ending to their first fight, oddsmakers still favor Yair Rodriguez to beat Brian Ortega.

Despite the abrupt ending to their first fight, oddsmakers still favor [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] to beat [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag].

Featherweights Rodriguez (16-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) and Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) will run things back in a five-round co-headliner of a UFC Fight Night event Feb. 24 in Mexico City, Mexico.

According to DraftKings, Rodriguez is -170 favorite, meaning a $170 bet would be needed on the former interim champion to return a $100 profit. Ortega is a +142 underdog, meaning a $100 bet on “T-City” would win $142.

Rodriguez and Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) squared off in the UFC on ABC 3 headliner in July 2022. Rodriguez won by first-round TKO after Ortega suffered a shoulder injury during a grappling exchange.

Ortega, who will look to snap a two-fight losing skid, hasn’t competed since then. Rodriguez is coming off a title-unification loss to featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski this past July at UFC 290.

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Ilia Topuria fires back at Yair Rodriguez: ‘They don’t use me as a rag in the fights’

Things are starting to heat up between Ilia Topuria and Yair Rodriguez.

Things are starting to heat up between [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] and [autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag].

Rodriguez recently took aim at Topuria’s resume by saying he talked his way into a title shot. Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) challenges featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) in the UFC 298 headliner Feb. 17 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Coming off back-to-back wins over Bryce Mitchell and Josh Emmett, undefeated Topuria has looked dominant in the octagon so far. Topuria mocked Rodriguez’s recent fights, suggesting he got lucky in a few of them.

“They have not been giving me big fights because I’ve been talking, but because I have been winning, which is something that differentiates him and me,” Topuria said in an interview with KOlmenero. “I don’t win fights because my opponent’s (Ortega) shoulder pops out. I don’t win because they beat me up, and in the fifth round he (Jung) took an elbow that I don’t even know where it came from. They don’t use me as a rag in the fights.”

Topuria has made some bold statements, going as far as saying five-time defending champion Volkanovski will be one of the easiest fight of his career. But the 27-year-old Spaniard insists it’s his performances that have been doing the talking.

“What do you mean I talk? Let him talk, and he will see that he will not get anything,” Topuria continued. “If he is going to see this, a piece of advice for him: Let him start winning, and he will start receiving things. Talking doesn’t get you anything. What you have to do is to win, which is something that is hard to do.”

Rodriguez (16-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) runs things back with Brian Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in a UFC Fight Night co-headliner Feb. 24 in Mexico City.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.

Yair Rodriguez downplays Ilia Topuria’s resume: ‘Talked so much sh*t, they just give him the opportunity’

Yair Rodriguez thinks Ilia Topuria talked his way into a title opportunity.

[autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] thinks [autotag]Ilia Topuria[/autotag] talked his way into a title opportunity.

Topuria (14-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) challenges featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-3 MMA, 13-2 UFC) in the UFC 298 main event Feb. 17 at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

Undefeated Topuria is coming off back-to-back dominant wins over Bryce Mitchell and Josh Emmett, but former interim champion Rodriguez (16-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) thinks the Spaniard’s brash confidence fast tracked him to a title shot.

“He was talking so much sh*t about me, about my last fight,” Rodriguez told Middle Easy. “I don’t know. He said something about me, whatever, and I didn’t want to say anything like that. But I just I was like scrolling on my Instagram, and I saw the video, and I thought it was funny because it’s true, you know: I have to fight against the best fighters in the world.

“Frankie Edgar, BJ Penn, Max Holloway – for me to get one title shot, you know I have to go up, down, up, down, up, down, and because this guy just talked so much sh*t, they just give him the opportunity, you know? And I’m OK with that, too. He will have to face me, he’ll have to face Max, he’ll have to face somebody like (Brian) Ortega, or Volkanovski, and then we’ll see what he’s made of.”

Rodriguez thinks Volkanovski has more tools to win against Topuria, but worries that he may have not taken enough time off after his knockout loss to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev at UFC 294 in October.

“I don’t care,” Rodriguez said of the outcome. “Whoever will be fine. I just think that the abilities of Volkanovski are way better than Ilia’s. Ilia’s good, but I don’t think he has what he needs in order for him to win that fight.

“The only thing I see is that Volk took the fight too soon coming off a loss – not only a loss, but a KO. I don’t know if he wants to demonstrate to himself that he can do it or whatever, but I would have taken more time to recover.”

Rodriguez will look to rebound from his title loss to Volkanovski at UFC 290 when he runs things back with Brian Ortega (15-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in a UFC Fight Night co-headliner Feb. 24 in Mexico City, Mexico. Rodriguez won their first meeting at UFC on ABC 3 in July 2022 after Ortega suffered a shoulder injury during a grappling exchange.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 298.