Two featherweight high ware pugilism acts in Yair Rodriquez and Andre Fili get the Vegas crowd pumped for the UFC 197 main card.
The featherweights ignite the eight sided barn this April 23, 2016 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Match Up
Featherweight Yair RodrÃguez 6-1 vs. Andre Fili 15-3
The Odds
Featherweight Yair RodrÃguez -155 vs. Andre Fili +135
3 Things You Should Know
1. Yair is a blue chip prospect that’s been hermetically sealed too long and so over-appreciates the oxygen of pugilism.
Rodriguez reminds me of Tony Ferguson, as directed by James Franco. He began his career a wild brawler, and he’s fought since then as a brawler. Just a brawler with something to say, however unfiltered. After winning TUF, he’s since beaten Dan Hooker and Charles Rosa: two very solid wins for a fighter of Yair’s caliber at the time. He’s facing a stern test this weekend that will either be too much too soon, or so much, so swoon.
2. Fili’s mixed record betrays his real talents.
Fili waned before he waxed entering the UFC. He’s a young fighter with a lot of experience training at a strong camp at Team Alpha Male. In other words, that much more dangerous for someone like Rodriguez. However, Rodriguez profiles to fighters similar to those Fili lost to. Needless to say, this is matchmaking so good it’s almost too good.
3. Yair needs to take lessons from Carlos Condit about how to conceal wrestling weakness.
So far Rodriguez has gotten by with a style that looks more like Poongko piloting Seth from SF4 than an actual human piloting their own consciousness. I’m not sure you can call moves he executes as ‘access to cartwheel ground and pound’ so much as they are glitches in his matrix.
However, beneath the jumping switch kicks and Only the Strong offense is a fighter who understands enough mechanics to know when it’s safe to execute such moves. He uses his tall frame for offense, which conceals his limited defense. His broken rhythm allows him to land good long strikes that makes output unpredictable. He’s also excellent on the ground, chaining opportunities together a more straight forward but equally effective way on the ground. His mount is a special brand of savage.
Fili takes a more traditional approach with his boxing. His combinations are tightly packed into a whirling dervish of violence, and when he’s using his legs, he’s surgical. The other thing about Fili’s game is that he’s borrowed some of the best aspects of Alpha Male’s trademark, able to phase shift from striking to wrestling with authoritative clinchwork and dynamic wrestling.
Prediction
I remember watching Carlos Condit fight Jake Shields and thinking, despite the loss, “that’s how you’re supposed to fight on the ground against a grappler”. If Yair can remain active with elbows and movement the way Condit does, this is a winnable fight. It may be purely aesthetic, but aesthetics sell judges. Judges are no different than fans in that respect; seduced by offense, however illusory. I like Yair’s game a lot but this feels a little like Benoit vs. Pettis: a prospect facing a slightly rawer prospect that has the benefit of the development gap right now. Fili will be able to land enough takedowns, and hit Rodriguez often enough to keep him passive at times. Nonetheless, great fight. Andre Fili by Split Decision