Is Yair Rodriguez Being Gifted a Championship Fight?
Undoubtedly, UFC 314 has been the best event the UFC has presented this year. The UFC 314 main event produced one of the most exciting fights of 2025, in which Alexander Volkanovski defeated Diego Lopes by unanimous decision to become a two-time UFC Featherweight Champion. Even though the main event would be a battle between Volkanovski and Lopez, the main story coming into the event would be the apparent beef between Featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez and Diego Lopes. The bad blood between Rodriguez and Lopes would reach a breaking point during the UFC 314 press conference, where the two would engage in a verbal sparring match while being held back by UFC security. Following Diego Lopes' defeat to Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez's win against Pitbull Freire, it seemed like the next logical step was for Rodriguez and Lopes to settle their beef inside the octagon.
In a shocking development, it seems that a fight between Yair Rodriguez and Diego Lopes is not in the UFC matchmaker's plans. Following Rodriguez’s impressive win over Pitbull at UFC 314, the Mexican officially set his sights on the UFC Featherweight Championship. Rodriguez would reiterate his plans to contend for Championship gold in his next fight, while also stating that he would not be taking any other fights unless it was for the belt. Following the announcement made by a top Featherweight contender, it seems that Yair Rodriguez will get his wish of fighting for undisputed gold next.
Fourth-ranked UFC Featherweight Movsar Evloev seemed to be the clear-cut number-one contender to challenge Alexander Volkanovski for his UFC Featherweight Championship. Boasting an undefeated record of 19-0, including wins over Diego Lopes, Arnold Allen, and former champion Aljamain Sterling, there is nobody more worthy of being Volkanovski’s first challenge of his second reign than Evloev. However, after Evloev confirmed that his next fight will not be against Volkanovski, it’s all but confirmed that Volkanovski will be defending his championship against Rodriguez. With the official announcement of Volkanovski Vs. Rodriguez looming, UFC fans are voicing their displeasure with the potential UFC 320 headliner.
To put it bluntly, Yair Rodriguez's last three fights do not resemble those of a championship challenger. Rodriguez has one win out of his last three fights, with the one win coming against a 37-year-old Pitbull in his first UFC fight. Rodriguez challenged Alexander Volkanovski for the UFC Featherweight Championship in 2023, where Rodriguez was finished in the third round via a TKO. Yair Rodriguez would be paired against Brian Ortega in 2024, which would result in Rodriguez suffering yet another third-round finish, this time coming via an arm triangle that would put Rodriguez out cold.
The explanation as to why Rodriguez is being given a championship opportunity is simple. UFC 320, which takes place on September 13th, is also UFC Noche. UFC Noche will go down in Guadalajara, Mexico. Having a headliner from Mexico, like Yair Rodriguez, would bring more hype and increase ticket sales for UFC 320, generating more money for the UFC as a direct result.
