Yair Rodriguez wants no parts of a potential Featherweight interim title bout.
Rodriguez instead has his eyes on the actual belt, in a bout against Alexander Volkanovksi. Rodriguez is confident that he is the challenge for Volkanovski, and believes he should get the next shot.
Rodriguez is coming off a win against Brian Ortega at UFC: Long Island. The win does come with a possible asterisk, as he did beat Ortega due to his shoulder popping out of place. Rodriguez was locking in an armbar, but when Ortega went to pull out of the submission, his shoulder came out of its socket.
While Rodriguez may be the next guy up for the shot, Volkanovski is unfortunately still sidelined due to a broken hand. He need surgery on the hand, and as of now there is no timetable for his layoff. The best thing for Rodriguez could be him staying active, instead of waiting around. He usually has longer layoffs and a possible bout with Josh Emmett would be a good fight for him to take.
A win over Emmett would solidify his title shot and would also keep him active, while ‘Volk’ rehabs his hand.
Yair Rodriguez was asked if he would take an interim title fight, but it didn’t interest him at all.
“No, it’s not something that interests me to tell you the truth,” Rodriguez said regarding Volkanovski’s interim belt suggestion. “I think even though there are very good fighters, I think they need to fight more or at least fight against fighters who are in the top five.” (Transcribed by MMAJunkie)
Rodriguez has claimed that no one in the division has fought the same type of competition that he has. He claims that he has fought more top five fighters than anyone else at the moment. Rodriguez also believes that the Ortega win should have been enough for him to get the Featherweight opportunity.
“They want to jump and fight with me, and I literally just won the opportunity to fight for a title. I don’t think that’s fair sincerely. I’m not saying they’re not good fighters. They do have good fights, but they’re racking up wins outside the top five. I fought B.J. Penn, Frankie Edgar, Max Holloway, Brian Ortega – you’re talking about fighters who were in the top five. When I fought Jeremy Stephens, he was in the top five.”
Do you believe Rodriguez should be in lane for the next title fight?