Yair Rodriguez has nothing nice to say about the new Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria.
Topuria, 27, planned his title reign ahead of time by not only predicting a finish of the now-former champion, Alexander Volkanovski (watch highlights), but shutting down the possibilities of giving past title challengers a chance at gold. That includes Mexico’s Rodriguez, who understandably didn’t like the initial comments.
After seeing Topuria’s impressive victory over his most recent opponent, Rodriguez didn’t have much to say … other than how badly he wants to enact violence on “El Matador.”
“He did it,” Rodriguez said at UFC Mexico media day. “He said he was going to do it and he did it. I don’t have much to say about that.
“I would love to f—k him up,” he continued. “I don’t want to fight him, I want to f—k him up. There’s a f—king big difference in that. Just to make that clear. Anywhere I f—king see him, I will f—k him up. F—k this b—ch. I don’t f—king like him.”
Before Rodriguez can potentially get his hands on Topuria, he’ll have to get through Brian Ortega for the second time in his 24-fight career (19-4, 1 no contest). Rodriguez vs. Ortega 1 resulted in a win via first round technical knockout for “El Pantera” thanks to an Ortega shoulder injury at UFC Long Island in July 2022 (watch highlights). Competing at UFC Mexico this weekend (Sat., Feb. 24, 2024), Rodriguez expects the winner to collide with the new champion afterward.
“I think that is what’s next for us, any of us, whoever wins, the title is next,” Rodriguez said. “F—k yeah [I’ll go to Spain vs. Topuria]. I’ll fight him in his backyard if he wants.”
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Mexico City fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (also on ESPN+) at 10 p.m. ET.
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