Yair Rodriguez was always willing to welcome Patricio Freire to the UFC.
Freire (36-7 MMA, 0-0 UFC) accused multiple fighters of turning him down for his UFC debut but got an eventual dance partner in Rodriguez (16-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC). The pair meet in a featherweight bout April 12 at UFC 314 from Kaseya Center in Miami (ESPN+ pay-per-view).
“Pitbull” showed off his direct messages to Rodriguez, where he tried to lure him into fighting on the March 29 UFC on ESPN 64 card in Mexico City. Freire told Rodriguez to show him his Mexican pride, but “El Pantera” says he only got an offer for UFC 314, which he accepted.
“I think the guy was just really excited about fighting in the UFC,” Rodriguez said on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “I think that probably the only way that he was going to make that happen was if I accept the fight. Whenever he DM’d me, I said, ‘Yeah, man. Sure, let’s do it.’
“And he was just trying to get me to react to him, but I’m over that f*cking sh*t, you know? I’m here to fight now. That, for me, is like a mad girlfriend movement. I don’t fall for that sh*t that easily. We’re in the fighting business, and the UFC wanted this fight to happen. Why not? That’s it.”
Despite Freire’s attempts to get under Rodriguez’s skin, the former interim featherweight champion paid his respects to the former Bellator dual-champion.
“I knew who he was,” Rodriguez said. “I know the toughness of the guy. He fought against Sergio Pettis, (Michael) Chandler. He has some other impressive fights on his record. I know he was a double champ, his legacy in Bellator and stuff like that. I’ve been watching some of his fights, but he never was somebody that I thought I was going to fight.
“I think all of these guys fighting in the big leagues, they have the talent to be fighting or competing at the maximum level. Sometimes it’s just contracts, sometimes it’s opportunities, sometimes it’s many things. But I just think all of these guys are really dangerous and talented, and they just need an opportunity to prove it.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 314.
