Yair Rodriguez beat Patricio Pitbull to snap a two-fight losing skid at UFC 314 on Saturday. Had you exclusively watched the event’s pre-fight press conference, though, you’d be forgiven for assuming Rodriguez and Diego Lopes were the two featherweights paired to collide. Mexico-born Rodriguez and Mexico-adopted Lopes had a blowup on stage that took over the proceedings and required repeated security intervention to keep the duo at bay.
Speaking on Uncrowned’s “The Ariel Helwani Show” about the surprise rivalry’s origins, Rodriguez explained that it wasn’t his story to tell.
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“Whenever the time comes to fight Diego, I’ll take care of that inside of the Octagon, as I’m supposed to for my friend [former UFC fighter] Marco Beltrán,” Rodriguez said. “I told Marco, ‘Don’t worry about it. I’ll f***ing take care of that. I promise you, I’ll f***ing beat him for you, man. I f***ing promise you.’ But in the right way. How it’s supposed to be.”
Rodriguez repeatedly pointed toward Beltrán, his friend and former teammate, as the true holder of the backstory between himself and Lopes. But while the viral press conference exchange wasn’t planned, Rodriguez said, once the moment arrived, he simply couldn’t hold himself back.
“He wanted to point out that I was coming from a loss,” Rodriguez said of Lopes. “I’ll repeat that to him — now he’s the one coming from a loss. He needs to earn his opportunity to fight for the title or for contention. I’m now the one coming from a win, and I deserve a title shot.
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“I was just fired up in the moment because he was bringing up that I was coming from a loss when I always have stayed respectful to him. Even in the past, we took a picture together, whatever, I’m cool with you. But I won’t stand for disrespect like that.
“I was ready to play it cool, then he started saying that, ‘Oh, he’s coming from two losses,’ to just say it. Why are you being like that?” Rodriguez continued. “It’s OK, you know? Yeah, I was coming from two losses. Now I’m coming from a win, and I’m ready to fight for a title.”
A former UFC featherweight interim champion, Rodriguez knows exactly what he wants after his unanimous decision win over Pitbull: a rematch with now two-time champion Alexander Volkanovski.
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Rodriguez’s performance against Pitbull was mostly one-way traffic as he picked apart the Bellator legend over 15 minutes. Rodriguez said afterward that he was promised a title shot with a win, though the optics make it a tough sell considering he just lost a title bout to Volkanovski two fights ago.
Volkanovski recaptured his belt in UFC 314’s headliner with a win over Lopes that left “El Pantera” unsurprised by the clinical showing.
Rodriguez is confident he’ll get his revenge against Volkanovski should they meet again.
“I’m not impressed with Volk. Look, he’s one of the f***ing greatest of all time. I expected that,” he said.
Yair Rodriguez believes he should be next in line for a title shot at 145 pounds after spoiling Patricio Pitbull’s UFC debut at UFC 314. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
(Jeff Bottari via Getty Images)
“I don’t know if it’s going to be in September [for a title shot] or before or after that, but Volkanovski, he said he wants to do it. He’s looking for the fight. He’s not saying no to the fight. The UFC wants to make it happen. I won’t be the guy holding back, so I think that’s the fight to make. I’m completely sure that if Volkanovski decides to take the fight and UFC wants to make it happen, I’ll become the champion in 2025.”
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Rodriguez, 32, is in a spot where he’ll have to really make his case, especially with the No. 4-ranked and 19-0 Movsar Evloev directly in front of him. Evloev was arguably the most worthy choice to compete in a vacant title tilt after Ilia Topuria’s departure from the division. Despite where they fall in the pecking order, however, Rodriguez doesn’t consider the UFC’s rankings to be a real factor.
“The only thing that I can tell you is that a fight against Volkanovski makes sense for me,” Rodriguez said. “I don’t want to talk about Movsar or whatever. He’s an incredible fighter, he’s a dangerous opponent. He’s coming from a win streak, but what I hear from the UFC, you only have to come from a win. Volkanovski and I had a background of fighting for the belt. I wasn’t able to come with the win, but this time I’m pretty sure I will be able to come with the win.”
