[autotag]Yair Rodriguez[/autotag] is officially a UFC champion – even if it is of the interim variety – after he submitted Josh Emmett this past Saturday at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia.
Rodriguez looked impressive for 9 minutes before he locked in a triangle choke to make Emmett tap out late in the second round. The Mexican star’s victory should set up a likely title-unification bout with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who came up short in his bid for champ-champ status by dropping a unanimous decision to lightweight champ Islam Makhachev.
While Rodriguez has endured his ups and downs during his UFC tenure, his performance at UFC 284 was a statement. And it has us wondering: How much of a threat is he to Volkanovski?
Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Nolan King and Dan Tom answered that with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
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Check out their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 284.