“He was AWOL on some mountain juicing” - Yair Rodriguez's improved cardio after two-year hiatus sparks doping accusations

Yair Rodriguez is scheduled to face the reigning featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkanovski for divisional supremacy this Saturday at UFC 290. As such, there's plenty of speculation about the Mexican striker's chances against 'The Great', who many still regard as the best P4P fighter in the world, despite Jon Jones' return.

Volkanovski is widely regarded as a cardio machine, and is among the few fighters who can match Max Holloway's pace. Fans have noted, however, that Yair Rodriguez—who has been known to gas out in three-round fights—was able to match the Hawaiian's pace in a five-round war, which raised questions amongst fans.

Furthermore, it was noted by some Twitter users that Yair Rodriguez's dramatically improved cardio came directly after a six-month USADA suspension due to his third failure in nine months to disclose his location for random testing. This left many fans wondering about the true nature of his improved cardio.

On Twitter, many have begun to suspect him of using illegal substances to improve his cardio, much like Colby Covington accused Kamaru Usman of using EPO. Considering Yair Rodriguez's previously poor run of form when it came to cardio in three-round fights, it's easy to understand where these suspicions come from.

One fan offered his thoughts on the matter:

"I think he lied to USADA about his location too. He told them he’ll be somewhere to test and just no showed. I was always sus ever since."

Another fan seemingly came to the fighter's defense:

"Training at 10k elevation boosts your cardio??!?? I never knew that."

Nevertheless, this has remained a divisive topic, with one fan stating:

"It's so insane lol. That's part of why I was sooooo confident in max winning...and then max won but Yair made it hard for all 5"

While some in the tweet's thread pointed out that Rodriguez simply changed his training habits over the past two years, others remained unconvinced. One fan disagreed, saying:

"Before the max fight he got a 6 month where abouts suspension. Was his 3rd strike in like 9 months. He was awol on some mountain juicing. Came back with killer cardio."

A collage of the reactions can be seen below:

Fan reactions (Image via Twitter)

For now, fans wait with bated breath to see if the interim champion's cardio will hold up against the likes of Alexander Volkanovski this coming Saturday at UFC 290.