https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6GxAKELF-I
Rising featherweight Yair Rodriguez raised his stock a bit higher with his destruction of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Hall of Famer B.J. Penn at this past Sunday’s (Jan. 15) UFC Fight Night event. “El Pantera” landed a front kick followed by a straight punch to drop his opponent. “The Prodigy” was done 24 seconds into the second round.
Surprisingly, Rodriguez revealed on Luke Thomas’ SiriusXM Rush show that he was injured heading into the fight. He went into detail about changing his training due to the knee injury:
“My right knee was really, really bad. I couldn’t even kick. I just did jiu-jitsu defense, I couldn’t really grapple or wrestle. I just boxed for this fight. As I started throwing kicks two weeks before the fight, my knee started feeling a little better, but I was just being careful.”
Besides focusing on his boxing thanks to the bum knee, Rodriguez also said he was preparing for the ground game of Penn. The Mexican warrior said he was getting ready to go the distance.
“Most of the fight [preparation] was strength and conditioning. What I was trying to do was get my heart rate up and trying to do a lot of cardio because I knew it was a five-round fight. And against this guy, being in a scramble especially with a jiu-jitsu specialist is hard. So I just prepared myself in that way.”
Rodriguez acknowledges he still feels the knee injury, but it isn’t stopping him from training to get to his ultimate goal.
“Yeah they [doctors] evaluated me before the fight. They cleared me, they said the knee was okay. The injury is still there, so I’m gonna be careful with my knee. I’m gonna record myself. I did my first training today here in Chicago, I’m motivated. I know I’m gonna be the champion of the world, it’s just a matter of time.”
