Yair Rodriguez is no longer on the UFC roster.
Following a tumultuous negotiation over his next fight, the UFC has cut ties with Rodriguez after he reportedly couldn’t come to terms on bouts against either Ricardo Lamas or Zabit Magomedsharipov.
UFC president Dana White first announced the news via the L.A. Times on Thursday. Sources close to the fighter also confirmed that Rodriguez has been notified of his release and he has officially been cut from the UFC.
White claimed that Rodriguez had most recently turned down a fight against Magomedsharipov at UFC 227 and the promotion decided to cut ties with him. The fight against Magomedsharipov was originally reported earlier this week with Rodriguez responding back to that news with a message on Twitter that read ‘fake news’.
“The guy’s off a year, rejects a fight with Lamas and then doesn’t want to fight a guy below him in the rankings? He can go somewhere else. We have no use for him,” White stated.
“He calls that fight fake news. This is real news.”
White then followed that up with a message of his own on Twitter.
It’s a shocking turn of events after Rodriguez was touted as one of the fastest rising stars on the entire UFC roster following his run on “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America”.
Rodriguez had gone undefeated in his UFC career including a knockout over Hall of Famer B.J. Penn before he was set up for a bout against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar last May.
Unfortunately, Rodriguez had a rough night as Edgar battered him over the course of two rounds before the fight was stopped and declared a TKO after so much damage was done.
Following that loss, Rodriguez traveled around the country as he trained with several different teams before looking to book his next fight.
Sadly that won’t happen now as he couldn’t come to terms with the UFC on his next bout and Rodriguez has been released from the promotion.
What are your thoughts on Yair Rodriguez being released from the UFC? Sound off in the comments and let us know!
