Yair Rodriguez accepts mistake made in Alexander Volkanovski loss, says title shot was gifted to Ilia Topuria

Former interim UFC featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez recently discussed his title unification loss against reigning kingpin Alexander Volkanovski.

Rodriguez lost via TKO in the third round of the UFC 290 main event last July, failing to secure undisputed champ status. In a recent interview with ESPN Deportes in Spanish, Rodriguez admitted that he was at fault for his rushed approach in the title fight.

Yair Rodriguez said:

"I accept all the weight of the mistake on my shoulders, I shouldn't have gone out so quickly to the fight. Many fighters would have preferred to throw the fight at the moment, than to go out so fast. I don't know if it was because I didn't want the audience to get cold, nor did I want to get out of the fight so quickly. I was stunned and what I wanted was to fight, I left very soon, I came out a little touched and apart from that the other badly stopped blow grabs me." [h/t ESPN Deportes]

Yair Rodriguez also discussed the next title challenger, Ilia Topuria, and his provocative comments after the UFC 290 loss. 'El Pantera' alleged that Topuria was gifted his title shot:

"The one who began to provoke was Ilia, he said that I saw myself as a rag. I said, 'Let's see that I grab you to see who the rag is.' Maybe it's not the time, I found the video and his energy became so similar to me, pretending to something that wants to demonstrate a facet of security, but it doesn't deceive me with everything he says. For me, they gave him the title fight." [h/t ESPN Deportes]

Topuria will challenge Volkanovski for the featherweight championship at UFC 298 next month.

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Undefeated Movsar Evloev calls out Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez for allegedly avoiding him

Undefeated featherweight Movsar Evloev believes both Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega are avoiding a potential fight against him.

Rodriguez and Ortega are booked to fight in the co-main event of UFC Mexico City on February 24, with 'El Pantera' set to compete in his home country for the first time since 2019.

The two featherweights previously fought at UFC on ABC 3, where Ortega's shoulder injury rendered him unable to continue and awarded Rodriguez the TKO win.

Evloev took to X to express his frustration at repeatedly inquiring about both fighters but being dismissed due to their injuries:

"Noticed a curious trend in the fight game - every time I inquire about Ortega or Rodriguez, they're apparently dealing with injuries. Yet, like magic, they make a swift recovery when I have a fight booked."

Check out his post below: