Marina Rodriguez of Brazil poses on the scale during the UFC 257 weigh-in at Etihad Arena on UFC Fight Island on January 22, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Marina Rodriguez set sights on her next fight, soon after her victory over Michelle Waterson
Rodriguez earned a hard-fought win over Waterson in the main event of UFC Vegas 26. The number 6 ranked women’s strawweight emerged victorious on her flyweight debut. She scored 48-47, 49-46, 49-46 in the three judges’ scorecard.
After the first two rounds, being pretty even, Rodriguez stepped it up in the third round, purely due to the sheer power she had. And despite Waterson gaining the upper hand in the fourth round, Rodriguez pegged her back in the fifth with the more cleaner strikes.
At the post-show with Megan Olivi, Rodriguez had a name in her mind to fight next – Joanna Jedrzejczyk. The number 2 ranked women’s strawweight hasn’t fought since March 2020, after that war against Zhang Weili.
Rodriguez does deserve the fight. She just has one loss in her entire career, against Carla Esparza, and it was a narrow split decision loss. Hence, the fight does make sense.
Even three days before the fight night, Rodriguez did not arrive in Las Vegas.
Due to a visa struggle, getting into America from Brazil, she spent almost 20 hours in travel alone, arriving only on Thursday.
However, she let none of it, affect her, as she saw off the experienced Michelle Waterson to mark her flyweight debut with a bang.
Rodriguez is currently on a two-fight win streak after beating Amanda Ribas previously, at UFC 257 via TKO.
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