UFC President Dana White has sensationally cut one of the most promising fighters in the promotion. The main reason appears to be that – while he has been inactive and has refused to fight a dangerous Russian – his name was not Conor McGregor
UFC President Dana White told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday night that rising-star Yair Rodriguez has been dropped from the promotion following his refusal to fight Russian prospect Zabit Magomedsharipov at UFC 227.
Just days ago, White said the bout would feature on Aug. 4 pay-per-view event from Staples Center in L.A. Rodriguez had also previously turned down an offer to fight No. 5 featherweight Ricardo Lamas.
“The guy’s off a year, rejects a fight with Lamas and then doesn’t want to fight a guy below him in the rankings?” White said. “He can go somewhere else. We have no use for him. He calls that fight fake news. This is real news.”
The news has brought a series of questions from fans who have been scratching their heads at the blatant double standards once again shown by the UFC. While there have been a number of fighters in a similar position to Rodriguez (in that they have reportedly turned down fights and taken an extended absence from the promotion) the Mexican has seemingly been treated differently to these fighters.
“What Rodriguez should have done is change his name to Conor McGregor,” said Jorge Contreras, a reporter with MMAFullContact based in Las Vegas. “If he changed his name, started calling people “sh*t heads” and telling them that “they’ll do nutin” he may have stood a great chance of being kept in the promotion. As it stands, he’s learned a lesson and shown everyone what happens if your head gets too big.
“The only way to succeed in having a big f**kin’ head and doing whatever you like in the UFC is to wave an Irish flag around and speak with a cool Dublin accent. You do that, you’ll get kept on. Look at Artem Lobov dude. He’s won like one fight against some street sweeper from Nicaragua and lost the rest. He’s still here,” Contreras added.
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