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One of Featherweight's Most Exciting Prospects, Yair Rodriguez, will duel with veteran bruiser, Chan Sung Jung, this Saturday (Nov. 10, 2018) at UFC Fight Night 139 inside Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado.
It's remarkable just how damaging the last 18 months or so has been for Yair Rodriguez. "Pantera" was UFC's next superstar heading into his first major step up in competition opposite Frankie Edgar, an exciting prospect with UFC's hype machine fully behind him. Losing that fight was not really the problem – many great fighters have lost to "The Answer" – Rodriguez goal has slipped from the limelight in the worst way. Taking a hard time is a great success, but UFC did not appreciate Rodriguez's lack of interest in fighting. Miscommunication or simple frustration saw Rodriguez briefly cut off from the organization, and let go of injuries.
Now barely a Top 15-ranked fighter, Rodriguez will make a sudden return. Let's take a closer look at his skill set.
Striking
Rodriguez is a true wild man, known best for his wide variety of acrobatic kicks. There is no reason to think about it, but it does not mean that you can not do it.
To make full use of his range game, Rodriguez maintains a lot of distance between himself and his opponent. Rodriguez stays light on his feet and switches stances often, bouncing away from his opponent and feinting very actively. While he's fresh, Rodriguez does a nice job of being trapped along the fence, switching directions quickly when his opponent tries to cut him off. However, he also spins so wildly that he can accidentally run himself into the cage.
To start, Rodriguez attacks with lots of hard low kicks. The fact that it does not hide them with punches is an issue, but Rodriguez minimizes that issue by using feints and angles to set them up. In addition, he will step deep into the kick, knocking his opponent out of stance and making the counter difficult.
Those leg kicks serve wonders in hindering his opponent from pressuring (GIF) and in setting up Rodriguez's own kicks, which is the topic for this week's technical highlight.
While it would be easy to simply group all of them, it's important to note that they do serve different purposes. For example, many of his kicks help him maintain the distance that is pivotal to his style.
Some of these kicks, like his spinning back kick, undoubtedly come from his Taekwondo background. However, he has also added to the fact that they are common to many Jackson-Winkeljohn fighters, and he's been quite effective with them. Against an opponent pushing forward carelessly, a straight kick to the knee will immediately disrupt offense.
In truth, Rodriguez is not much of a boxer. Whenever Rodriguez does it himself in a pocket exchange, he cocks down and throws punches quickly as possible. For the most part, Rodriguez punches with the hope that the threat of his hands will keep his opponents off him, rather than really trying to pick his shots. That works at lower levels, Frankie Edgar found great success in following up Rodriguez finished throwing and landing combinations.
One of Rodriguez's most common punches is the spinning back fist. An odd choice to be a hand punch, safe, but it serves to help. Rodriguez keep opponents off him. MMA fighters are trained to immediately fire back after an opponent kicks, but it is more difficult to move forward if the kicking man is willing to spin into a dangerous back fist at any time.
All the focus on maintaining distance is not without reason. When allowed to work from his range, Rodriguez is very tough to deal with. He has so many different kicking techniques that he makes the most of the time. How to get close to, "Pantera" is exploding into leaping, spinning, even flipping techniques (GIF).
He may look a bit crazy when he whiffs a crazy kick, but no one wants to get hit by a shin sailing through the air.
Rodriguez's best performance came against Andre Fili. In the first round, Rodriguez did a nice job of landing reactive takedowns to prevent pressure. Fili was putting lots of pressure on his opponent, which prevented Rodriguez from really uncorking his kicks effectively. In fact, Rodriguez slipped a couple of times while trying to kick from his back foot.
However, in the second round, Rodriguez landed in the eye on his steamer opponent, who feels his back to his vision. With the space to work – and a wounded opponent – Rodriguez leaped into a bicycle kick and finished the fight (GIF).
Wrestling
Following his loss to Edgar, it's becoming clear that Rodriguez's wrestling still needs some work, even if he has come a long way since his debut.
Offensively, Rodriguez has really shown two paths to the takedown, and both are designed to work against people trying to close the distance. For one, Rodriguez is very slick with his overhook trips and throws. As his opponent pushes in the clinch, Rodriguez uses his length and their momentum to crank on the overhook and possibly reverse position (GIF).
At the very least, it is a good idea to take a break from the clinch.
Additionally, Rodriguez does a nice job of scoring reactive takedowns. This was most noticeable in his opposite end Fili, as Rodriguez was able to change levels and run through a pair of double legs. The double legs were not particularly remarkable technique, goal Rodriguez timed the takedowns perfectly to put a solid grappler on his back.
Defensively, Rodriguez is still something of a mixed bag. On one hand, his athleticism and strong hips allow him to deny many shots, and his ability to scramble up his back after a failed submission attempt is very nice. At the same time, that type of opportunistic and athletic defense does not work against truly elite wrestlers. Edgar never succeeded in his initial shot with "Pantera," but it only took a transition or a wrestler to succeed in grounding his opponent shortly after.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Rodriguez is one of those submitters who is dangerous because of aggression more than anything else. He said that "Pantera" has shown a few grappling techniques that he often relies on.
From his back, Rodriguez is all about throwing his legs up for the triangle. There's nothing overly complicated about his approach; Rodriguez is long and quick and throws his legs up with the intention of trapping an arm and neck. If he can lock up the choke, great, but Rodriguez will also use his legends to hunt for an arm bar or stand up. The bottom line is that he stays incredibly active, and that makes it difficult for his opponent to get anything done from top position.
Besides that, Rodriguez loves leg locks. These holds serve as a peer, they can help you escape bad positions and scramble to your feet. For example, Rodriguez's spinning attacks leaves him at a greater risk of having an opponent on his back from the clinch. In that case, Rodriguez will often roll for a knee bar or into the 50-50 position. It has not finished yet, but it is possible to scramble into the position or back to its feet.
Similarly, Rodriguez will lace up his opponents legacy from his back, as well as gain a better position.
In one interesting exchange, Rodriguez used the threat of the lock to pass Fili's guard. After leaning back and beginning to grip Fili's ankle, Rodriguez waited for his opponent to try and kick him off. When that happened, Rodriguez used that space to move around his opponent's legacy in a similar way to a smash pass.
Opposite Edgar, Rodriguez's offensive grappling was definitely threatening. At one point, his rolling knee bar, he was trying to get to grips with Edgar's knee – good luck getting the New Jersey native to tap. Unfortunately, Rodriguez was unable to make a positive decision on the position or stand, meaning Edgar returned to smashing him.
Conclusion
Where does Yair Rodriguez stand in 2018? This tip hopes to answer that question, it's very possible that "Pantera" is still the promising up-and-comer who many fans have excited about. It's also possible – though, in my opinion, far less likely – that he will lose his life. Rodriguez must be motivated to find out himself, why else would the athlete jump at the chance to fight a really tough opponent on short-notice?
Andrew Richardson, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt, is a professional fighter who trains at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. In addition to learning alongside world-class talent, Andrew has scouted opponents and established winning strategies for several of the sport's most elite fighters.
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