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Yair Rodriguez: I Had ‘Less’ Than $400 Before UFC 188

Yair Rodriguez stepped into the cage on Saturday night with only five professional fights and less than $400 to his name. Standing across from him was Charles Rosa, one of the most intriguing prospects in the featherweight division.
Looking across the …

Looking across the open sea of Octagon canvas, Rodriguez saw opportunity where most see fear. He was competing on the main card of UFC 188, a pay-per-view card in Mexico City headlined by Cain Velasquez. With bright lights, cameras and celebrities in his peripheral, Rodriguez stormed forward like a seasoned veteran looking to steal the show.

The MMA world soon learned what all the buzz surrounding The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America winner was about. The rising 22-year-old star looked like he was in The Matrix, wowing fans with jumping switch kicks and an aggressive closed guard.

Rosa appeared to be outmatched technically in all areas of the fight. On his feet, Rodriguez kept Rosa guessing with feints and switch-striking. When the fight hit the ground, Rosa looked like he was tangling with an octopus with all of the guard movement and submission attempts.

This isn’t to say Rosa didn’t have his moments. He hung tough in the stand-up exchanges and even managed to ride out a bit of the clock in control on the ground. It was a close fight that ended up earning Fight of the Night honors. Rosa’s toughness convinced one judge to score the fight in his favor, but the other two judges saw the fight in favor of Rodriguez.

Rodriguez walked away with a $50,000 bonus and a win over a highly respected opponent in his home country. It was not a bad way to end a weekend that began with less than $400 in his pocket, according to a post-fight interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani:

I think less [than $400] bro. It means so much for me bro. I’ve been working hard. My last fight was in November. It’s a long time to fight this fight, but I’m so proud that I could be here and that means so much for me. That just Dana White just called me to talk with me and say, “That was a great fight.” And I’m just so happy. I’m going to keep moving forward and keep training hard.

There was a lot to like about Rodriguez’s performance, especially when considering he hasn’t even scratched the surface of his prime skills yet. UFC commentator Joe Rogan even threw out comparisons to Jon Jones and Anthony Pettis.

While it’s a little early to be doling out those kinds of compliments, there is indeed something special about Rodriguez. Perhaps we unknowingly witnessed a preview of the featherweight division’s next breakout star.

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.

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After Silencing Critics, Fabricio Werdum Now Thinks He’s Best Heavyweight Ever

Fabricio Werdum kicked down the king’s door, marched into the king’s castle and took the king’s throne. It was only fitting that Werdum be the man to remind us that no one is unbeatable.
Cain Velasquez, a heavyweight tornado, had effo…

Fabricio Werdum kicked down the king’s door, marched into the king’s castle and took the king’s throne. It was only fitting that Werdum be the man to remind us that no one is unbeatable.

Cain Velasquez, a heavyweight tornado, had effortlessly torn through every opponent in his path. Outside of a lone knockout loss to Junior dos Santos, no real chink in Velasquez’s armor had ever been revealed. He came back and dominated dos Santos in a pair of rematches, firmly establishing himself as the best heavyweight on the planet.

Werdum faced long odds against Velasquez in the UFC 188 main event. Mexico City hosted the UFC championship bout Saturday night, which saw the return of one of the greatest heavyweights in MMA history. With a home crowd behind him, Velasquez set out to unify the heavyweight titles after spending nearly two years on the shelf.

Like MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko, Velasquez is a fighter who rarely wears his emotions on his sleeve. But something about fighting in Mexico made this bout different. He threw stoicism to the curb as he walked to the Octagon amid the pouring rain of love and admiration from fans.

As Mexican fans celebrated Velasquez’s arrival, Werdum quietly paced back and forth as calm as ever. This wasn’t the first time he’s played the role of massive underdog. Let’s face it: When it comes to spoiling things, Werdum is MMA’s classier version of Kanye West.

It was just five years ago that Werdum handed Emelianenko his first official MMA loss. Few thought he’d be able to shock the world once more against Velasquez. The idea that no man is unbeatable is a concept we typically kick around after the fact. But in reality, few saw Velasquez running out of gas after one round and getting submitted by a guillotine choke, which is exactly what happened.

Velasquez, one of the most conditioned athletes in combat sports, wasn’t prepared for the high altitude that comes along with fighting in Mexico. When speaking with Fox Sports’ Ariel Helwani, Werdum admitted he knew Velasquez would have a tough time acclimating to the conditions.

“I saw when he was very tired because he just come into Mexico two weeks before,” Werdum said. “I listened when he breathed and I saw when he was very tired, and I said, ‘This is my moment.’”

Being the only man to defeat Velasquez and Emelianenko, Werdum was asked if he was now the greatest heavyweight of all time.

“Yes, I have it here. I have two belts. I have one at my home, and I have the other one here,” said Werdum.

After his performance Saturday night, it really does make you wonder.

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.

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Video: Wanderlei Silva Loses His Mind over Fabricio Werdum’s UFC 188 Win

Fabricio Werdum has gained a number of fans in the years since he upset Fedor Emelianenko back in Strikeforce, but none have been as big or loyal as Pride legend Wanderlei Silva. So when Vai Cavalo became the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion by defe…

He was so happy, in fact, that he posted an amazing video on Facebook of himself and his wife at a bar, jeering Velasquez fans.

Silva has made a name for himself over recent years with his absurd social media posts. The former Pride champion is a must-follow on YouTube, where he is often seen in black and white, shouting into the camera about various topics, ranging from his hatred of Chael Sonnen to fighters’ need to establish a labor organization.

The friendship between Werdum and Silva was actually a long-running theme for The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil. Silva worked as a head coach on seasons 1 and 3 (opposite Vitor Belfort and Sonnen, respectively), and brought aboard Werdum as his Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach. Werdum, similarly, coached during season 2 and brought on Silva as one of his assistants.

In both cases, Silva proved to be a less-than-great mentor. His season 1 team suffered through one of the worst runs in the show’s history while his time on season 2 was defined by his infamous tantrum directed at one of his proteges, Daniel Oliveira (which he would apologize for in episode 7). Werdum would not return for season 3.

Silva is currently in a promotional and commissional limbo, stemming from his recently overturned lifetime ban from MMA stemming from his refusal to submit to a random drug test. We shall see what awaits him over the coming months.

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UFC 188 Results: Cain Velasquez’s Fall Unexpected, Odd but Temporary

The Tortoise and the Hare was always one of my favorite Aesop’s Fables growing up. It was a story ingrained with the moral that speed doesn’t always win the race.
Sometimes slow and steady is the way to go. The same moral can be taken …

The Tortoise and the Hare was always one of my favorite Aesop’s Fables growing up. It was a story ingrained with the moral that speed doesn’t always win the race.

Sometimes slow and steady is the way to go. The same moral can be taken away from the UFC 188 heavyweight title fight between Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez.

Werdum, a heavy underdog coming into the fight, fought at a tortoise’s pace against the hare of the heavyweight division, spoiling one of the biggest homecomings of the year. Mexico’s native son, Velasquez, had looked like Aquaman throughout his career, dragging opponents out to deep waters and leaving them to drown.

But out of the water, 7,382 feet above sea level in this case, Velasquez looked ordinary. He opened up against Werdum in the first round with the same aggressive pace he’s used to wear down countless other heavyweights. But merely after a few minutes of resistance, Velasquez started to slow down.

It was uncanny seeing a man many considered one of the most conditioned combat athletes in the world taking deep breaths after only a round of action. When speaking with Fox Sports’ Ariel Helwani after the fight, Werdum claimed he saw the fight drain out of Velasquez:

“I saw when he was very tired because he just came into Mexico two weeks before,” Werdum said. “I listened when he breathed and I saw when he was very tired, and I said, ‘This is my moment.’”

Werdum calmly weaved his way through Velasquez’s wild strikes and began landing significant punches of his own, busting up the heavyweight star in a way none of us had ever seen before. Velasquez was basically a zombie in the cage fighting on autopilot. Huffing, puffing, wheezing, gasping—Velasquez did all he could in an attempt to catch his second wind.

But it never came.

Velasquez immediately reverted back to wrestling in the third round hoping he could get a takedown and ride out some top time, which is typically an effective strategy for world-class wrestlers. Unfortunately for Velasquez, he wasn’t dealing with an average opponent on the ground.

Werdum, a two-time ADCC Submission Wrestling World Champion, is one of the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu artists to ever step foot in the Octagon. His closed guard is a labyrinth filled with unexpected traps. Velasquez did his best to avoid the ground altogether against Werdum, but choking on your own lungs makes you do desperate things.

He shot in for a takedown, leaving his neck fully exposed on the outside for Werdum to lock in a guillotine choke submission at 2:13 of the third round.

During the post-fight press conference, Velasquez admitted arriving only two weeks before the bout to train above sea level wasn’t enough time to prepare him for the fight.

“Maybe that wasn’t enough,” he said. “Again, no excuses. Fabricio was the better guy tonight. He fought with great technique. Very relaxed.”

Werdum was indeed the better fighter on Saturday night. We can talk all day about sea level conditions and ring rust, but the results are the results. Werdum didn’t just beat Velasquez.

He finished him in Mexico City, in front of Velasquez’s countrymen. It was a strong performance that quelled any doubts about Werdum’s position in the heavyweight division.

With that said, there is no doubt the high altitude played a major factor in the fight. A fight in the states would have played out much differently. This isn’t to say the outcome would have changed, but Velasquez would have at least been able to contribute more than a one-round effort.

The image of the former UFC heavyweight champion stumbling over his feet exhausted, eating unanswered punch after unanswered punch was unexpected and odd. But it was also temporary. Velasquez will go back to the drawing board, prepare properly and return to form.

How would the hare do in a rematch? Perhaps Velasquez and Werdum will go at it again and pen old Aesop a new fable.

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He also is the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.

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UFC 188 Results: Full List of Winners, Losers and Fight Stats

Fabricio Werdum was the biggest winner on Saturday night in Mexico at UFC 188. The 37-year-old Brazilian defeated Cain Velasquez by guillotine choke in the third round of the main event. Werdum won the undisputed heavyweight championship with the victo…

He was the interim champion and Velasquez the recognized king of the division coming into the bout, but in the end, there could be only one. Werdum and Velasquez were supposed to meet in Mexico in November 2014, but an injury forced Velasquez out.

He has battled injuries over the last two years and hadn’t fought since 2013.

Perhaps the layoff and the altitude played a role in the result, but most of the credit should go to Werdum. He fought a spectacular fight. He picked Velasquez apart in standup with his vastly improved striking and finished the deal with a choke from his bottomless arsenal of Brazilian jiu-jitsu maneuvers.

Jason Floyd of the MMA Report has the statistics for the bout:

Here’s a look at all of the results from the card:

Other Big Winners

Werdum’s win also won him one of the Performance of the Night bonuses, per UFC on Twitter. He was joined in the bonus line by bantamweight Patrick Williams and featherweights Yair Rodriguez and Charles Rosa, who won Fight of the Night.

Williams’ Quick Choke

It took just 23 seconds for Williams to set a bantamweight record for fastest submission win when he also used the guillotine choke to submit Alejandro Perez. The move was preceded by two right hands that dropped Perez.

Williams wasted no time pouncing on his downed opponent. The 33-year-old Floridian sunk in the choke and put Perez to sleep. When the fight was over, Williams was able to win over the Mexican crowd by speaking fluent Spanish in his post-fight interview.

Williams talked about his big night in the interview below from UFC.com:

It was an impressive performance all around from Williams and one that will have fans anticipating his next bout. After just 23 seconds of work, he could fight next week if he wanted to.

Williams’ record is just 8-4, and this win could be his one shining moment. While he looked the part of a serious contender, his career has been up and down. He’s never won more than two straight fights and still doesn’t own a win over a notable opponent.

We’ll see what he has in his next fight and reserve the hype train after extended success.

Quick Choke, Take Two

The guillotine choke was the move of the night. Efrain Escudero also used it to submit Drew Dober in the first round. The finish wasn’t quite as fast as the one Williams produced, but it was just as impressive.

It took just under a minute for Dober to tap as Escudero leaned into the submission. The sequence started when Dober attempted an early kick that was parried by Escudero. The evasion caused Dober to lose his footing, and Escudero took advantage of the opportunity.

He quickly locked on the submission, and that signaled the beginning of the end. To Dober‘s credit, he valiantly fought to escape the hold, but perhaps he had just seen Perez go limp in the cage the fight before his and thought better of it.

Since losing his UFC debut, Escudero has now won two fights in a row. The 29-year-old has been fighting professionally since 2006, but he seems primed to make a significant move in the next two years.

Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter

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3 Potential Fights for Cain Velasquez Following His UFC 188 Loss to Werdum

Most MMA pundits didn’t think it could be done. The notion of Cain Velasquez falling down—and not getting back up—was something our binary brains registered as inconceivable.
The chink in Velasquez’s seemingly impenetrable armor w…

Most MMA pundits didn’t think it could be done. The notion of Cain Velasquez falling down—and not getting back up—was something our binary brains registered as inconceivable.

The chink in Velasquez’s seemingly impenetrable armor was that he’d been out of action for 20 months, due to injury upon injury. And also the fact that Velasquez, despite his infamous cardio, maybe hadn’t given himself enough training time in Mexico City’s punishing altitude.

Fabricio Werdum was confident heading into this fight, so much so that it was a bit unnerving. Did he have some sort of ace up his sleeve? He clearly knew something that the rest of us didn’t.

It turns out what he knew was that he’d simply go out there and outwork and outpace Velasquez; he’d outstrike him and break him down, and the ace up his sleeve was his guillotine choke—the same high card he used to foil the great Fedor Emelianenko.

Following his jaw-dropping performance, Werdum told Ariel Helwani of FoxSports.com that he’d like to offer Velasquez a rematch. Perhaps the UFC goes that route, but there are other worthy contenders out there who deserve their shot at Werdum.

Velasquez can lick his wounds and bounce back by taking a fight with a heavyweight that’s a little bit farther down the totem poll. Whom should that be? Let’s explore three potential options.

Travis Browne

Oftentimes, the UFC likes to pair up two fighters who are both coming off losses. The highest-ranked heavyweight coming off a loss, after Velasquez, is No. 5-ranked Browne.

The 6’7″ striker was most recently on the losing end of one of the greatest rounds in MMA history. Browne has lost two of his last three, having beaten down Brendan Schaub and gotten beaten up by Werdum.

The opportunity to knock off an all-time great in Velasquez would be a huge opportunity for Browne. But it also might be a nightmare matchup, and a loss would leave him reeling. For Velasquez, though, a win over Browne might be just what the doctor ordered.

Mark Hunt

Hunt is coming off back-to-back (TKO) losses to Werdum and Stipe Miocic.

A fight with a vengeful Velasquez would probably be the worst thing in the world for seventh-ranked Mark Hunt right now. But this article is about what makes sense for the fallen champ, and facing off with a fighter who doesn’t have the world’s best takedown defense could translate into a walk in the park for Velasquez.

The Roy Nelson vs. Josh Barnett Loser

This fight may actually be a loser-leaves-town match.

Nelson has taken a ton of punishment over the course of his career, and he has lost four of his last five. Barnett last fought back in December 2013, and it felt like he might never come back before taking this fight out of nowhere.

If Barnett loses, he may ride off into the sunset. If Nelson loses, he may be put out to pasture. But if the loser is a glutton for punishment then they could be fed to a Velasquez who’d likely have little trouble grinding either out.

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