Yair Rodriguez Avoids Major Injury After Visiting Hospital

Rising featherweight Yair Rodriguez picked up his biggest UFC win when he edged Alex Caceres in the main event of last night’s UFC Fight 92 (watch full video highlights here) from Vivint SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, and he also got his toughest test in the Octagon thus far as well.

The flashy 23-year-old used his full arsenal of lightning-fast spinning kicks and strikes, and while they were certainly effective from ‘El Pantera,’ the more experienced ‘Bruce Leeroy’ was able to weather the early storm to arguably win a pair of later rounds on the judges’ cards. It could be argued that Caceres was in position to win the bout heading into the fifth and final round of both fighters’ first main event, but a lack of activity ultimately lead to a split decision victory for Rodriguez after one judge somehow scored it 49-46 for Caceres.

Yet the win, which earned $50,000 apiece for Rodriguez and Caceres as “Fight of the Night,” didn’t come without its lumps for the budding Mexican star, as Rodriguez was reportedly sent to the hospital to have both hand and foot injuries examined last night. Thankfully, ‘El Pantera’ avoided any serious injury, as UFC Vice President of Public Relations Dave Sholler detailed that he had no broken bones and only received some stitches on his hand in an email to MMA Junkie:

“Yair was discharged earlier this morning. X-rays and scans on potential foot and hand injuries came back negative. He did receive stitches for a cut.”

That’s music to the ears of the UFC, because with seemingly every champion getting knocked out or submitted in the first round, the promotion is going to need each and every young star they can get after the company was sold for a record $4 billion to media group WME-IMG in July.

Rodriguez is obviously one of their best and brightest young fighters, as he not only possesses a unique and unparalleled blend of striking speed, skill, and creativity, but also the key to the vast, fight-crazed Mexican market the UFC has been coveting for many years. “El Pantera” could become the star that they’ve been looking for from that part of the world, and even he was a bit wild when his gas tank ran out a bit in the early championship rounds last night, he’s emerged with a win and relatively unscathed.

It will probably be best if the UFC continues bringing him up slowly rather than throwing him to the many wolves that populate the top rungs of the UFC’s talented featherweight division, especially the grueling wrestlers. Who would you like to see the TUF Latin America winner face next?