Max Holloway defeats Yair Rodriguez
Yair Rodriguez, with blood coming from several cuts on his face, pointed his finger and planted it on Max Holloway’s chest. Holloway, his face swollen and bleeding above his right eye, grabbed his fist and touched the Mexican’s face.
Holloway’s legend continued Saturday with a unanimous decision victory (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) over Rodriguez in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas. And Rodriguez’s own status as a warrior was confirmed after a standout performance in a losing cause.
The back-and-forth fight, which finished as one of the best of 2021, could have been a torch-passing moment from Holloway, the former UFC featherweight champion, to the up-and-coming Rodriguez. Instead, Holloway, nicknamed “Blessed,” scored another big win in a storied career and Rodriguez boosted his value despite the loss.
Rodriguez pushed Holloway to the brink, coming back with an elbow that cut Holloway open in the fifth round. But Holloway held on.
“If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best, and the best is ‘Blessed,’ baby,” Holloway said in his post-fight interview. Both fighters were transported to the hospital after the bout.
Holloway is arguably the best featherweight in UFC history, carrying the 145-pound title from 2017-2019 with three successful defenses. ESPN has Holloway tied for No. 9 in the world in its pound-for-pound MMA rankings. At featherweight, Holloway is ranked No. 2 and Rodriguez is No. 8.
“Max is an incredible fighter,” Rodriguez said. “He’s got a lot of experience. He’s done an unbelievable job. I have nothing to do but accept [the loss].”
After the fight, Holloway was noncommittal about what he wants next. He mentioned a possible title fight at lightweight, another shot against the man who took the featherweight title from him in Alexander Volkanovski, and even being on “the short list” for a fight against Conor McGregor, who beat Holloway in 2013.
“We’re ready whenever,” Holloway said.
Rodriguez, even after an absence of more than two years, was ready from the start. His ultra-quick kicks gave Holloway trouble throughout the fight and in the first he landed them to the calf and body, plus a big front kick to Holloway’s face. Holloway responded with his boxing volume, but Rodriguez connected with some big punches.
In the second round, Holloway began to gain some momentum, landing more combinations with his hands and going to the body with punches. Rodriguez slipped in the third round and Holloway gained solid positions on the ground, making several submission attempts and landing punches.
In the fourth, Holloway was in control on the feet and landed a takedown from which he landed punches. Rodriguez came back fresh in the fifth with more kicks and a spinning elbow that opened Holloway up over his right eye. When the final bell rang, the two men could do nothing but show the other their due respect.
“His boxing is pretty good,” Holloway said. “He moves like a boxer and then turns his elbows … He’s a damn beast.”
Holloway (23-6) snapped a two-fight losing streak, both to Volkanovski, with a dominant unanimous decision performance against Calvin Kattar in January and has now won two in a row. The Hawaiian has lost to only two men since 2013 – Volkanovski twice and Dustin Poirier in an interim lightweight title fight.
Holloway, 29, owns the most wins (18), most wins by KO/TKO (8) and most wins by stoppage (10) in UFC featherweight history.
Rodriguez (13-3, 1 NC) was undefeated in three straight fights and has just two losses in 10 UFC fights. The Mexican hadn’t fought since a unanimous decision victory over Jeremy Stephens in October 2019. Rodriguez, 29, holds the record for the latest knockout in UFC history, a spectacular elbow knockout of “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung with one second remaining in the fifth and final round in November 2018.
