Yair Rodriguez Losses: Who Has ‘El Pantera’ Lost to in His UFC Career?

Yair Rodriguez is up for his next bout at the UFC Fight Night in Mexico this coming Sunday. Rodriguez has been an essential mainstay of the featherweight division, having gone toe-to-toe with greats such as Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, both of whom are former featherweight champions of the world.

With a brilliant record of 19-4, it’s clear that ‘El Pantera’ hasn’t lost an awful lot. He’s finished 42% of his fights via a knockout which stands at 8 wins and then about 26% of them through submissions, which is 5 wins. But what fighters did he lose to? Here’s all you need to know.

Yair Rodriguez’s losses listed

The last time we saw Yair Rodriguez fight was when he went up against the former featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. ‘The Great’ recently lost his featherweight crown to Ilia Topuria, but he still handed Rodriguez a great fight, which was also the Australian last MMA win.

In the third round of their UFC 290 bout, Volkanovski managed to knock out ‘El Pantera’ with his furious punches, retaining the title for himself. Before then, Rodriguez lost to ‘Blessed’. This was via a unanimous decision when the two locked horns at UFC Fight Night 197 in 2021.

It looks like Rodriguez gives a great challenge to holders of the coveted featherweight belt, losing only to them. Meanwhile, he’s fought the likes of Jeremy Stephens and B.J. Penn not losing to either one of them. He did, however, lose to former UFC champion Frankie Edgar.

Back in 2017, when Rodriguez went up against Frankie Edgar, the two clashed hard. Edgar was able to hurt ‘El Pantera’ so badly in the face that a massive bulge appeared below his left eye. Ultimately, the doctor had to come in and stop the fight because Rodriguez had completely lost his vision in the damaged eye. But this only counts for the three losses in his professional career. What about the fourth?

‘El Pantera’s only loss outside of the UFC

The Mexican fighter has fought in a promotion from his home country before and it was here that he was handed his first professional loss. At Mexican Fighters Promotion 13, Rodriguez went up against Luis Roberto Herrara and came up a bit too short.

Also Read: UFC Mexico: Brian Ortega Gets Advised to Avoid Striking Yair Rodriguez – “Stick to What You Are Good At”

In fact, he was knocked out in the very first round of their bout, making it one of his fastest losses in professional MMA history. This was back in 2012 and after this fight, ‘El Pantera’ would go and fight for other promotions before finally joining the UFC in 2014.

Now, perhaps he’s ready to put all his losses behind as Rodriguez prepares to take on Brian Ortega at UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs Royval 2. Will Ortega be able to add one more to the list of losses in Rodriguez’s career? Or will ‘El Pantera’ reign supreme?

Also Read: UFC Interim Featherweight Champion Yair Rodriguez: What nickname does Alexander Volkanovski’s UFC 290 opponent go by?