Yair Rodriguez and Michael Bisping
Yair Rodriguez was fuming after his fight against Jeremy Stephens was cut short due to an accidental eye poke – in fact he flipped at Michael Bisping
Yair Rodriguez fought Jeremy Stephens in his hometown of Mexico City at UFC on ESPN+ 17. Fans expected fireworks, given the fighting style both fighters present, and Stephens left no stones unturned in preparation. However, the main event didn’t see past the 15 seconds mark of the first round, after Jeremy Stephens’s eye shut down due to an accidental poke by Yair.
Fans inside the arena blew a fuse, and things escalated pretty bad. They started hurling popcorn and beer after the fight was called off. Rodriguez flared up after the fight was cut short, and began pacing the octagon in agony.
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping was on commentary duty for the event. When he walked in to interview Rodriguez, the Mexican angrily roared at Bisping in his native language. Bisping tried to calm him down and calmly reacted by saying, ‘‘Hey, Relax..”
Recalling the incident on his Youtube channel ahead of Yair Rodriguez’ fight against Max Holloway, Bisping said,
“There you go, Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez should be fun. I’ll be interviewing the winner… Last time I stepped into a cage with Yair Rodriguez was when he fought Jeremy Stephens down in Mexico City. The fight just started and sadly there was an eye poke and the fight got called off. Then a riot started and when we were there, I was commentating with Brendan Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald gets under the desk and he was like Mike ‘come down here, there’s room for you… Anyway, when it all died down, I went into the cage and I went to talk to Yair Rodriguez. And he snapped at me in Spanish and he ended up ‘puta’. So I think he called me a little b***h. But it’s all good. We had a joke about it the other day. So fingers crossed, if I do interview him on Saturday, I don’t get abused,”
The talent-stacked lightweight division is witnessing some incredible fights and movement, reigned by the immovable force that is Alexander Volkanovski. Many have tried, and many have failed. Two of the best featherweights clash this weekend in an epic contest when Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez cross paths. Ortega has already had a shot at Volkanovski’s title once, and came the closest to dethroning the featherweight champion.
Brian Ortega is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the featherweight division of the UFC. Currently ranked at No.2, Ortega is a 1st-degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Rener Gracie. He was also the former featherweight champion of RFA.
Ortega did not have the most memorable of debuts inside the UFC octagon. Although he won his fight against Mike De La Torre through a rear-naked choke, the win was overturned after he tested positive for drostanolone. Ortega was fined $2,500 and suspended for nine months.
Ortega returned almost after a year against Thiago Tavares on June 6, 2015, at UFC Fight Night 68. He won the back-and-forth fight via TKO in the third round. Both participants were awarded Fight of the Night honors.
His biggest victory early in his career came against Diego Brandão, a second-degree jiu-jitsu black belt back then. Ortega submitted his opponent via triangle choke, and went on to beat MMA legend Clay Guida by knockout.
An exciting fighter who comes for the finish, Ortega has won the Fight of the night award five times, and performance of the night award twice.
Winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America tournament, Yair Rodriguez is the third-ranked featherweight fighter in the world. An explosive fighter, with diverse weapons in his arsenal, and a killer instinct to shut down opponent’s lights, the Mexican fighter can be a fresh challenge for the champion Alexander Volkanovski with a decisive win.
A black belt in Taekwondo, Rodríguez made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut on October 10, 2011, at Mexican Fighter Promotions 8, when he fought Jonatan Guzmán and won via unanimous decision.
It was announced in May 2014 that Rodríguez would be a cast member of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, competing for “Team Velasquez”. In his first fight on the show, Rodríguez defeated Humberto Brown in the quarterfinals via submission (triangle choke). In the semifinals, Rodríguez defeated Rudolfo Rubio via submission (strikes) to reach the finals.
Rodriguez faced Leonardo Morales in The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America featherweight finals, and won the fight by unanimous decision. Rodriguez also holds the record for the latest knockout in UFC history (4 minutes 59 seconds of Round 5), has five Fight of the Night bonuses, and three performance of the night awards.
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