Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is holding a special pre-fight press conference for the upcoming UFC 290: “Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez” ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) mixed martial arts (MMA) event, locked and loaded for this Sat. night (July 8, 2023) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, with UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, interim 145-pound titleholder Yair Rodriguez, UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno, and top 125-pound contender Alexandre Pantoja, among others.
The LIVE press conference stream gets underway TODAY (July 6) at 6 p.m. ET in the embedded video above.
“He’s got that danger element,” Volkanovski told The MMA Hour about facing Rodriguez. “But people just quickly forget about that fight IQ, about my resilience and my durability. I’m just very well-rounded. I’ve got all the tools and I’ve got all the right tools to be where I am right now. There’s a reason why I say it every time for my fights — I don’t think I’m athletically gifted or anything like that, it’s all the other stuff that make me the champion I am, and make me who I am. And that’s why you can never really count me out. That’s why I believe the way I lose to anyone in my division is that someone landing a lucky punch, catching me.”
“Saying ‘lucky punch’ is probably pretty disrespectful, but someone that catches me,” Volkanovski explained. “I don’t see anyone actually beating me. But then you’re talking about opponents that have more of a chance of doing that, it probably is Yair Rodriguez, when you look at him having that danger factor. Can I go out there and make this look easy? Yeah, I can. I can go out there and make this look easy. But does that mean he’s not dangerous? No, he’s very dangerous. But I’m well prepared and I’m ready to go out there and show why I’m the man.”
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 290 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard bouts on ABC/ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 290: “Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 290 fight card and PPV lineup click here.