In a hugely anti-climatic end to tonight’s fantastic UFC Long Island card in New York — Chihuahua striker, Yair Rodriguez scores himself a TKO victory over two-time title challenger, Brian Ortega in the headlining clash, after the latter suffered a dislocated shoulder in the opening round of their main event bout.
Stunning Ortega with a series of strikes on the feet, Rodriguez looked incredibly sharp with his striking, landing repeated straight right hands as the former marched forward in a bid to stifle the offensive approach from the #4 ranked Rodriguez.
Scrambling at the fence and battling for position, Yair Rodriguez managed to stuff an eventual takedown attempt from Ortega, forcing a standup as the two reverted vertically.
Involved in another scramble soon thereafter — this time on the deck, Ortega suffered a dislocation of his right shoulder as he appeared to attempt to setup a heel hook as Rodriguez returned to his feet, forcing a stoppage in the headlining clash in the first round.
Following the headliner, both Rodriguez and Ortega remained receptive to a rematch in the future, however, Rodriguez remained coy on his pursuit of a featherweight title fight against Alexander Volkanovski off the back of his anti-climatic win against Ortega.