Yair Rodriguez’s victory over Brian Ortega at UFC Long Island last Saturday didn’t exactly lend the clarity to the featherweight title picture that fans might have hoped.
With Josh Emmett coming off a contested split decision over Calvin Kattar back in June, word on the street was that a dominant victory for Rodriguez on July 16th would make him the next man to contend for Alexander Volkanovski’s belt. But while there’s no doubt that Rodriguez won his fight, a shoulder injury TKO to Brian Ortega is hardly the method anyone imagined.
“I already told him, we can run it back any time,” Rodriguez told Daniel Cormier in his post-fight speech, speaking of Ortega and his damaged shoulder.