Yair Rodriguez doesn’t feel too far from his ultimate goal.
It’s been an entertaining nearly 10-year journey inside the Octagon for one of Mexico’s best. The perennial Featherweight contender, Rodriguez, has never lost back-to-back fights in his career (19-4, 1 no contest) and plans to continue that trend in his rematch against Brian Ortega at UFC Mexico on Feb. 24, 2024.
Rodriguez’s last time out saw him come up short in his first undisputed title opportunity against Alexander Volkanovski via third round technical knockout at UFC 290 in July 2023 (watch highlights). Despite the next fight acting as a rebound attempt, “El Pantera” believes a win can get him directly back into the conversation to fight for the title next.
“I think it’ll put me right there for the title shot again,” Rodriguez told MiddleEasy. “Of course, that would have a lot to do with the [Ilia] Topuria vs. Volkanovski fight. I think that will dictate where the division will go and what fights there are to make. If ‘Volk’ wins, which I think he will and I win my next fight, I think a rematch could be a potential reality.”
One week before Rodriguez returns, the division’s title will be up for grabs when Volkanovksi looks to hand Topuria his first career loss in UFC 298’s main event in Anaheim, California on Feb. 17, 2024. As much as he’d like a rematch with “The Great,” Rodriguez wouldn’t be picky about who his second title opportunity may come against.
“I don’t care,” Rodriguez said. “Whoever will be fine. I just think that the abilities of Volkanovski are way better than Ilia’s. Ilia is really good, but I don’t think he has what he needs in order for him to win that fight. The only thing I see in that fight is I think ‘Volk’ too soon coming off a loss. Not only a loss, but a KO.
Obviously, first and foremost, Rodriguez has to worry about Ortega before he can manifest the possibility of facing either Volkanovski or Topuria. Rodriguez vs. Ortega 1 ended anticlimactic at UFC Long Island in July 2022. After a grappling exchange late in round one, Ortega suffered a shoulder injury as Rodriguez worked for a submission, which resulted in a verbal submission (watch highlights).
“I don’t see why people keep thinking that his shoulder fell off for no reason,” Rodriguez said. “It’s okay. Everybody can think whatever they want about what happened there. If Brian wants to accept it or not, that’s not my problem. This is a completely different fight in a whole different environment and it’ll be great. Mexico is gonna be a super tough fight so it’s gonna be interesting.”