Yair Rodriguez’s somewhat awkward victory over Brian Ortega is arguably the biggest of his career. Unfortunately, although the fight was declared a TKO in Rodriguez’s favor, the fight came to an early end when Ortega sustained a shoulder injury late in the first round. Ultimately, however, for Yair Rodriguez, a win is a win, and he’s counting this as a stoppage victory in his favor anyway.
The injury itself, he says, came from a submission attempt in the first place. “In the moment, I knew that I had the submission. Of course, the attempt of the submission was there. That led to a reaction from Brian Ortega that led to his injury. For me, it’s a win, no matter what. Regardless, it’s a win.
Rodriguez: Ortega Finish is “A Win, No Matter What”
I felt that it was stretching, because I felt like I had it. I had it really tight, and then I put my knee on his belly and I tried to wrap my other leg around his face to try to get the armbar.” Rodriguez, upon viewing the fight footage, even feels like Brian Ortega tapped to the submission.
“He was pulling and as he was pulling, if you take a close look at the video, he tapped once. He tapped once, and then I realized that he tapped once, and he released the pressure so I let go.
You can take a look at the video, and you’ll see the quick tap in there. I let go, and I saw he was in pain, so I didn’t want to punch or anything. It’s something, if he kept moving, the ref wouldn’t stop the fight, but I didn’t want to do anything else.”
With a victory over a recent title contender under his belt, Yair Rodriguez isn’t being unrealistic to expect a shot at the title, or an interim title, in the near future. The fans who disagree, he says, are nothing new to him.
“Stuff like this has been going on in my career since the beginning of my career, because they speculate if I win by mistake, by luck, by accident, by whatever, I don’t know what else do I have to do in order for people to start believing that I’m for real,” Rodriguez said. “If they want to keep on believing that I’m not for real, if I haven’t earned their respect by this point, I don’t know what else to do. I think I’m just a really lucky guy and that’s why I got in the No. 1 contender spot.”
Do you agree with Rodriguez’s take on the Ortega fight? Let us know in the comments.
