Brian Ortega Vs. Yair Rodriguez To Headline UFC Long Island
Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez are set to face each other this July in Long Island, New York.
After a lot of speculation regarding the featherweight fight, UFC announced on Twitter that Brain Ortega (15-2-0) and Yair Rodriguez (14-3-0) will headline the Fight Night Card on July 16. The fight will take place at the UBS Arena on Long Island.
Ortega (15-2, 1NC) hasn’t fought since coming short against the UFC featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski in the September of last year.
The ‘T-City’ went to war against the Australian titlist and was even close to submitting Volkanovski two times during the fight. But Volkanovski somehow survived and went on to close the night with a unanimous decision victory.
The fight was nominated for the “Fight of the Year.”
While on the other hand, Rodriguez (13-3, 1NC) is also coming off a unanimous decision loss against the former champ, Max Holloway in November 2021. But unlike Ortega, the Mexican showed little to no resistance to Holloway and proved to be a sandbank in front of the Hawaiian.
One of the highlight reel wins of Rodriguez’s career came against the Korean Zombie, Chan Sung Jung when he landed a beautiful reverse elbow in the dying seconds of the fight to snatch the victory from the Korean’s mouth. To get an opportunity for the title, the American fighter had to beat the Korean Zombie by decision.
The Mexican is ranked third in the featherweight division and has notable wins against Korean Zombie, BJ Penn, Alex Caceres, Andre Fili, and Dan Hooker respectively.
As Volkanovski and Holloway will be fighting at UFC 276, the winner of the Ortega-Rodriguez fight will earn the next title shot.
Here’s the updated card for the event:
- Brian Ortega vs. Yair Rodriguez
- Askar Askarov vs. Alex Perez
- Dustin Jacoby vs. Da Un Jung
- Michelle Waterson vs. Amanda Lemos
- Herbert Burns vs. Khusein Askhabov
- Jessica Penne vs. Brianna Fortino
- Punahele Soriano vs. Dalcha Lungiambula
- Ricky Simon vs. Jack Shore
- Billy Quarantillo vs. Bill Algeo
- Li Jingliang vs. Muslim Salikhov