Mexicans will “dominate” the combat scene
Daniel Rodriguez is building his name in the UFC based on an aggressive style and high quality boxing. A Mexican style that he learned as a child, growing up in a Mexican-American family in California, where they did not miss the fights of idols like JC Chavez, Oscar de la Hoya, Erik Morales, Marco Barrera and even Manny Paqcuiao no matter the opponent.
Rodriguez debuted in February 2020 with a win over veteran Tim Means and already has a 4-1 record in the UFC, as well as being among the fighters with the highest volume of significant strikes in the entire promotion.
For his UFC Vegas 31 camp, he decided to get even closer to those Mexican roots and accepted Yair ‘Pantera’ Rodriguez’s invitation to train in the state of Mexico.
“It was amazing, at first the altitude was very tough, but when I came back I noticed it was a great way to start my camp. We were at the Otomí Ceremonial Center, for me, a big boxing fan, to find out that Julio César Chávez, (Marco) Barrera, (Erik) Morales and other legends I watched as a kid trained there was a great opportunity for me.”
Yair would be the star of this bill, but an injury to Max Holloway forced the fight to be cancelled and he was able to save all the training done, as his opponent, Abubakar Nurmagomedov was also injured and was replaced by debutant Preston Parsons, who has his majority of wins by submission.
“He’s a last minute replacement, he accepted with eight days. He’s a debutant and I know very little about him, but I came prepared. I had a good camp. I think my jiujitsu is very good and I was working for a very good fighter, so there won’t be many changes in the game plan,” added the native of Alhambra, California.
Although he knows his opponent will try to avoid him, he will look to continue the style that has led him to grow in popularity among UFC fans; especially after the overwhelming victory over Mike Perry in April of this year, he knows his hands can take him far and he continues to work with them.
“I still watch a lot of boxing, I’m a fan of Canelo Alvarez, boxing is my style, although this is MMA and we have to train everything, but I don’t leave behind that way of attacking my opponents,” he valued.
Although he was born in the United States, Rodriguez has already had the opportunity to fight and train in Mexico and is convinced that a great moment is coming for the sport in the land of his parents: “I was surprised to see MMA grow so much in Mexico, because we are lovers of fights, and the fighters coming are very good. Brandon Moreno opened the door for Mexicans to become champions. Take it seriously, the trainers keep improving and soon we will dominate”.
After the media boom of Moreno’s championship at 125 pounds, he thinks that ‘Pantera’ Rodriguez, his teammate, is very close to reach those heights, pue today is ranked number three in the Pluma ranking.
“Yair is the next one, I have trained with many people, but he is impressive, I think he is the next one to get a championship for Mexico,” he valued.
Rodriguez and Parsons will close this Saturday’s preliminary card at UFC Vegas 31, an event headlined by Russian Islam Makhachev and Brazilian Thiago Moises at UFC Apex, which for the first time will have a capacity of more than 100 fans, although all will be guests of the promotion.
