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“Dude, it was a 15-second fight. You scratched the guy, the fight was over. What are you cheering for?”
“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” – Kenny Florian
Kenny Florian, the quote machine himself, has finally given his long-awaited analysis of Yair Rodriguez controversial post-fight actions at UFC Mexico, and the UFC veteran turned analyst believes ‘El Pantera’ acted in ‘poor taste’.
Florians’ comments come after Rodriguez seemingly celebrated his underwhelming No Contest (NC) result against Jeremy Stephens after landing an eye poke on ‘Lil Heathen’ at 0:15 of the first round. The 26-year-old also briefly snapped at UFC commentator Michael Bisping and got into a backstage scuffle with Stephens at a hotel.
“I didn’t like the fact that Yair Rodriguez was kind of insinuating to the crowd in a lot of ways that maybe Jeremy didn’t wanna continue fighting and all that stuff,” Florian said on a recent edition of the Anik & Florian podcast (h/t MMA News). Which kind of incited the crowd, right? I mean these guys wanted to see a fight. I thought that was in poor taste.
“I don’t know if he was thinking things through all the way. I think he was frustrated by the situation. And I certainly don’t think he did this intentionally either. I don’t think he tried to scratch his eye intentionally either, obviously.
“I thought that was in poor taste and even cheering after the fact of getting on top of the Octagon,” Florian added. “Dude, it was a 15-second fight. You scratched the guy, the fight was over. What are you cheering for? I don’t know. I was kind of confused by it. He showed a lot of emotions out there, went at Bisping at one point. I thought that the whole thing was just kind of weird.”
Rodriguez also accused Stephens of ‘quitting’ at UFC Fight Night 159, and the good news is both men will have a chance to settle their beef in a rematch at UFC on ESPN 6. The Fight Night event takes place on October 18 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.