Why Was Yair Rodriguez Cut From the UFC? Did Dana White Play a Role in the Release of the Featherweight Star?

Yair Rodriguez is one fight removed from realizing his dream of becoming the UFC champion. He faces the featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 290 and will look to stamp the potential of a future UFC champ he showed at The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America. The Mexican fighter was soon fast-tracked to UFC and garnered eyeballs due to his flashy fighting style. However, his ambition to claim the UFC gold soon met with trouble when the promotion cut him from the roster in 2018. The move came as a sudden shock as he had exhibited flashes of brilliance in his fights against Dan Hooker and BJ Penn. His then impressive record of 6-1 in promotion also didn’t come to his rescue.

Why was Yair Rodriguez cut from the UFC?

The 30-year-old fighter was looking to rebound from his recent loss against Frankie Edgar at UFC 211. The promotion offered him an opponent first in UFC veteran Ricardo Lamas and then Zabit Magomedsharipov. According to the news broke by the LA Times, he turned down both fights and thus incurred the wrath of UFC President Dana White.

Lance Pugmire reported that the decision of the Mexican fighter, coupled with his layoff of a year, enraged the UFC head honcho. He, displeased by Rodriguez’s unprofessional acts, then dropped the fighter from promotion. The 53-year-old also specified he needed to take his act somewhere else.

The promotion had also sent the official letter carrying the ominous news to him.

Dana White on Yair Rodriguez’s UFC cut

The UFC lynchpin, later on, expanded on his arguments and clarified the fighter had indeed turned down fights. Thus, prompting the promotion to take adverse action. He felt the UFC had no space for fighters rejecting fights.

During the UFC Fight Night 130 post-fight press, he said, “We offered him [Yair Rodriguez] fights. He turned down the fights”.

“If you don’t want to fight, this isn’t the place to be. There’s plenty of places out there that will take Yair Rodriguez and would love to have him, and would sign him. And I’m sure he’ll have a great career. This isn’t the place for you,” he added later.

Following this, White showed his iron hand when he stated, “When I call you and offer you a fight, you should probably take it.”

However, he also mellowed his stance on the future return of the 15-3-1 record holder. On the other hand, ‘El Pantera’ refuted those claims when he appeared on The MMA Hour.

Yair Rodriguez opens up about abrupt UFC release

In a conversation with Ariel Helwani, the fighter shunned the claims made by White. He also disclosed the reason for his absence for the family issues marred his return. But when he settled down, he asked Sean Shelby for a fight and made himself available against Josh Emmett in February 2018.

The American fighter instead opted for Jeremy Stephens and the future prospect, then pressed for a top-10-ranked fighter. He said, “I told him I think I at least deserve a top 10. No matter what happens, I think I deserve a top 10  just because of what I already showed in the UFC”.

The promotion offered him ‘The Bully’ and he accepted the fight. But again, his opponent turned down a fight against him and instead chose Mirsad Bektic. The disappointed Parral native opened negotiations with Magomedsharipov as well as emphasized the need to pen a new contract.

He continued, “I was like, okay, I’ll fight Zabit if you give me more money in LA. Because I understand how big of an event it is, and they said no.”

The promotion subsequently declined his offer to fight in Russia. Amusingly, UFC announced the matchup for UFC 227, which he then retweeted as #FakeNews. This proved to be the last straw, as the promotion soon cut him off.

He declared, “I told them I will accept anyone in the top 10. I don’t need a negotiation for a top-10… I just think that’s what I deserved, and they didn’t want to give it to me. That was more about respect, respecting myself.”

Yair Rodriguez next fight, UFC 290

The TUF alumnus worked out a solution with UFC and made his return against ‘The Korean Zombie’. His impressive win streak continued, except for one hiccup against Max Holloway. He soon bounced back and defeated Emmett to clinch the interim title at UFC 284.

He now faces ‘The Great’ at UFC 290 on July 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in a unification bout. Choose Your Side, Order UFC 290 PPV with just 2 clicks!  

Read More: “He’s Absolutely Out of Control”- Despite Going Against “Very Tough” Alexander Volkanovski, UFC HOFer Commends Yair Rodriguez Over Tremendous “Confidence”

What do you think of this amusing episode of Rodriguez’s fighting career? Let us know in the comments below.

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