Despite his dominant win over Patricio Pitbull in the Brazilian’s promotional debut, UFC 314 winner, Yair Rodriguez has admitted the nature in which he won was not how he had planned prior to this return fight in Miami.
Rodriguez, a perennial featherweight challenger and a former interim gold holder in the promotion, made his return against former two-weight Bellator MMA kingpin, Pitbull over the weekend — turning in a decision win over the former in his promotional debut.
And making rather light work of the veteran, Rodriguez outstruck the Brazilian en route to a unanimous judging success — even dropping him in the third round of their back-and-forth toward the end of the frame.
Yair Rodriguez disappointed despite Patricio Pitbull win
However, despite his impressive showing, Rodriguez claimed he was eager to bring an end to the pairing within the openign round — via knockout in fact, and voiced his disappointment in his failure to do so.
“It [the fight] didn’t play out exactly the way I wanted because I was picturing a first-round KO,” Yair Rodriguez told assembled media after his UFC 314 victory. “You guys saw one head kick that landed, but I couldn’t develop the full power because of the distance. Still, we came out with a nice win.”
Staking his claim for a second shot at the featherweight crown proper, Rodriguez boldly claimed he was promised another go round at the belt by promotional brass if he was able to topple Pitbull over the weekend.
First competing against newly-minted champion, Alexander Volkanovski back in 2023 during International Fight Week that summer, then-interim gold holder, Rodriguez came unstuck courtesy of a third round ground strikes knockout defeat.
