After defeating Joshua Emmett yesterday, Yair Rodrguez challenged current featherweight division champion Alexander Volkanovski in the post-match press conference.
UFC 284’s main event featured Makhachev vs Volkanovski at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia. One of the highlights of the morning was Yair Rodrguez’s triumph over Joshua Emmett in a featherweight bout.
Less than 8 years ago, Yair Rodriguez had less than 400 dollars to his name.
He’s now the interim UFC featherweight champion. pic.twitter.com/hfywkzRI3b
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 12, 2023
El Pantera came into the fight as the heavy favorite to win the interim featherweight belt, and he did not let his fans down by losing the fight to Joshua. The Mexican boxer opened the bout in his usual fashion: with aggression, speed, and control.
The 30-year-old fighter was lightning-fast and menacing, and American fighter Anthony Joshua never seemed comfortable facing his kicks. With a triangle choke submission, Rodriguez claimed the interim featherweight title just in the second round.
Yair Rodriguez deserved to take a bow after last night's championship performance 🏆👏 #UFC284 pic.twitter.com/cY8V6xq6Bz
— UFC (@ufc) February 12, 2023
In his UFC debut against Leonardo Morales in 2014, Rodrguez came out on top. In the three years since then, he has won six consecutive fights. However, the Mexican MMA fighter hit a tough patch after his 2017 victory against BJ Penn.
In the next four years, Yair lost two bouts against Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway. This is the first two-fight win streak for the featherweight since 2017. Rodriguez defeated Brian Ortega last year, and his recent win streak has propelled him to the number five spot in his weight class.
The Mexican boxer currently has his sights set on becoming the undisputed 145-pound champion by winning a title unification bout against Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski in Mexico City. In the post-fight briefing, Yair said he already talked with Volkanovski’s manager in Dallas about the fight and he is hopeful about the fight.
“his manager asked me if I’d go to Australia. I was like, ‘Yeah, why not. Of course, I’ll go.’ I stick to my word. I came here and won the interim title, and now I want to ask the UFC to take this belt, this championship fight to Mexico City in September whenever they open the UFC performance institute, so we can do it there.” said Yair Rodriguez.
Yair Rodriguez looked INCREDIBLE tonight #UFC284 pic.twitter.com/QIzQfyDaVi
— UFC (@ufc) February 12, 2023
At the same time, Alexander Volkanovski, who lost to Islam Makhachev, issued a threat to the remaining fighters of the featherweight division by saying that he would be coming for them next.
