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What’s the story?
In a recent interview with ESPN, UFC’s top prospect Yair Rodriguez opened up about his last bout in the Octagon which was a devastating loss to former Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar.
In case you didn’t know…
Starting out as a member of Team Velasquez of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, Yair Rodriguez made his UFC debut on 15 November 2014, at UFC 180 when he defeated Leonardo Morales via unanimous decision in the featherweight finals of the TUF: Latin America and in doing so became the winner of the entire tournament.
The heart of the matter
While speaking with ESPN, Yair “Pantera” Rodriguez admitted that he apparently was not able to handle the pressure of being UFC’s top prospect and couldn’t live up to his expectations which ultimately led to the lacklustre performance against Edgar at UFC 211.
“I couldn’t handle the pressure. It exploded. I was being really hard on myself.” - Yair Rodriguez stated.
Additionally, Rodriguez also claimed that prior to his bout against Edgar he wasn’t properly listening to his coaches and was getting mad at training. However, “Pantera” did claim that he is not going to be making excuses for his loss to “The Answer” and said, he is going to have to keep himself ready at all times now that he is fighting at the very top level.
What’s next?
Ever since his last loss at UFC 211, Yair has made a lot of changes to his lifestyle and training style. The 25-year-old has moved to Las Vegas in order to train at the UFC’s Performance Institute and is currently eyeing for a return fight in the UFC against a top-ranked Featherweight.
Author’s take
It is always great to see MMA fighters being this humble in real life and wanting to improve themselves inside the Octagon, and I do believe that Yair Rodriguez will definitely be one of the standout fighters in UFC’s 145-pound division.
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