Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is just a couple of hours away from its upcoming UFC 290: “Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez” ESPN+ pay-per-view (PPV) mixed martial arts (MMA) event, locked and loaded for TONIGHT (Sat., July 8, 2023) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, the last stop for combat sports fans during “International Fight Week.” To help promote this weekend’s big shebang, the promotion recently dropped a new video preview for the Alexander Volkanovski vs. Yair Rodriguez featherweight title unification bout, embedded above. If you don’t like the F-word, this video probably isn’t for you.
“He’s always been very good with these spin kicks and flashy stuff at a longer range. He’s always been good there, but then now he’s just so good at all ranges,” Volkanovski said about Rodriguez during the UFC 290 media day (watch it here). “Even when you’re close, you don’t know whether he’s exiting, whether he’s throwing spinning elbows, flying knees, teep kicks, whatever it is. So he’s very good at all ranges. I think earlier on in his career, he was probably much better at one range. But now you’re seeing him a lot better at all ranges, and even his ground game — obviously he’s the type of guy that always goes for the finish, even on the feet and then on the ground. But again, he’s just sort of molded everything together to make that perfect style for himself. He’s an interim champion, so yeah, let him have it, it’s alright. Let him enjoy it while it lasts. You know me, I’m not going to throw any disrespect, but everyone knows I’m the real champ and I don’t need to care about anything else.”
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.