The next featherweight title is set, but who will the lightweight champ fight next? We look ahead after UFC 284.
What were the biggest moments from UFC 284 in Perth, Australia? Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Sam Bruce offer up their final thoughts after the 12-fight card from Down Under.
Yair Rodriguez might be the most exciting fighter on the UFC roster, and he’s been in that conversation for quite some time. He’s absolutely must-see TV with his creativity, his kicks, his knees, his elbows and so on. There was a period of time where Rodriguez was only that: an action fighter. But that’s no longer the case. There’s another word for him now: champion.
Rodriguez and his team, led by coaches Mike Valle and Izzy Martinez, deserve a ton of credit for his massive improvement. We all know Rodriguez can win fights with spinning techniques and back elbows. But beating a guy as tough and durable as Josh Emmett with a triangle choke off his back? That was an absolutely sublime way to win the UFC interim featherweight title.
Rodriguez has leveled up significantly, there’s no doubt. And the best part is, he’s kept all the things that made him so phenomenal to watch and channeled it into becoming an elite-level fighter. He’s a nightmare to fight, because you never know what strikes he’ll throw or what angles he’ll throw them from. And now he’s submitting guys from the bottom, too? That’s almost not fair. It’s almost reminiscent of Anthony Pettis’ evolution from the guy who threw the «Showtime Kick» to the well-rounded fighter who armbarred the unsubmittable Benson Henderson from his back to win the UFC lightweight title.
Another thing to note here: this is Mexico’s second UFC championship win in as many months and it comes just days after the UFC announced its next Performance Institute will be in Mexico City. Brandon Moreno became a two-time UFC flyweight champion at UFC 283, beating Deiveson Figueiredo. Rodriguez will have a chance to fight Volkanovski for the undisputed title in the future, but this is not an insignificant victory.
There were no Mexican-born UFC champions until Moreno in 2021. Before this year is over, the country has a chance to have four with Alexa Grasso fighting next month for the UFC women’s flyweight title against Valentina Shevchenko and Irene Aldana likely next up for UFC women’s bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes.
