‘Taekwon Fighter’ Yair Rodriguez (31, Mexico), who destroyed ‘Korean Zombie’ Chan-sung Jeong, became the new interim UFC featherweight champion.
Rodriguez defeated Josh Emmett (38, USA) in 4 minutes and 19 seconds of the second round in the interim featherweight title match at the mixed martial arts tournament ‘UFC 284: Volkanovski vs. Makachev’ held at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on the 12th (Korean time). Subdued with a triangle choke. With this, Rodriguez became the interim featherweight champion to face current champion Alexander Volkanovski (33, Australia).
On this day, Volkanovski challenged lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (32, Russia). If Volkanovski returns to featherweight, Rodriguez will fight him for the unification title. On the other hand, if Volkanovski continues to play at lightweight, Rodriguez could take over as regular champion. 온라인카지노
Rodriguez is also a familiar face to Korean fans. In 2018, Chan-sung Jung (36) won the UFC featherweight match by knockout with a backspin elbow attack with one second left before the end of the match. For Jeong Chan-sung, if he had reached the decision, he could have won comfortably. However, thanks to that one shot, Rodriguez became a top fighter in the UFC and even became the interim champion that day.
In the first round, Rodriguez, who has excellent kicking ability as he trained in taekwondo, came out with an out-fighting strategy in which he thoroughly distanced himself. Emmett, who is short in stature and reach, struggled against Rodriguez’s hitting.
Rodriguez was slightly in danger by allowing a blow to Emmett in the second half of the round. He even allowed side positions on the ground. However, he overcame the crisis well and finished the first round in his favor.
Rodriguez then ended the fight in the second round. Knocked down Emmett with a powerful elbow and kick. Emmett also countered with punches, but Rodriguez’s body kick landed well.
Under the ground situation, Rodriguez grabbed Emmett’s arm and neck and placed a triangle choke. Emmett, whose technique was fully loaded, tried to hold on for a while, but gave up the match by tapping.
In the interview after the match, Rodriguez said, “Thank you to God and the UFC for giving me a chance.” He went on to say, “I’m not sure when I’m going to face Volkanovski,” he added, “we’ll see what happens.”