Scott Coker Sounds Off On Potentially Signing Yair Rodriguez
It may not long for Yair Rodriguez to find a new home for his MMA career.
The reason for that is because Bellator President Scott Coker has expressed interest in signing the UFC prospect if he is indeed gone from the Las Vegas-based promotion.
It’s been well documented that UFC President Dana White revealed earlier this week that Rodriguez had been released by the promotion after he refused to accept two fights that were offered to him by the promotion.
The prospect was offered to fight against top contender Ricardo Lamas and then fellow prospect Zabit Magomedsharipov at the upcoming UFC 227 pay-per-view event.
He turned down both of those fights. This when the UFC boss had enough and decided the best course of action was to release him.
“My guys are talking to him, from what I understand,” Coker told MMAjunkie following Bellator 199 weigh-ins. “To say he’s a free agent, we’d just like to see the documentation. Where’s your release letter? If he’s truly free and clear, then we can have a serious conversation. Let’s make sure that we dot our I’s and cross out T’s.”
“Just because they say you’re fired, legally I don’t think that means you’re fired,” Coker continued. “When you get that letter, that means you’re released. So let’s see what happens with that.”
Rodriguez holds a pro-MMA record of 10-2 and 6-1 while under the UFC banner. If you recall, he was on a lengthy winning streak to kick off his start with the promotion that includes a dominant second-round TKO finish of former champion BJ Penn at a Fight Night event in January of last year.
However, he ran into his toughest challenge when he beat by former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar at UFC 211 by TKO. Since then, he has not fought due to an injury.
“It could’ve been an emotional outburst and they say, ‘Hey, we want you back.’ You never know,” Coker said, before adding, “There must be more to it than we know. But that’s their business, and we’ll let them deal with it.”
“He’s a tough kid,” he said. “I will say this: Anybody that’s a free agent that is a top-10 (fighter) or top contender, we’re going to have a conversation with everybody – any weight class. If you’re the guy, and you’re a free agent, we’re going to have a conversation.”
