Yair Rodriguez hits out at Patricio Pitbull over UFC 314 fight claims: ‘I’m over that f*cking sh*t’
Booked to return at UFC 314, former interim champion, Yair Rodriguez has no time for incoming foe, Patricio Pitbull claimng he initially rejected the opportunity to fight him at UFC Mexico City — claiming he is “over” trash talking with the Brazilian.
Rodriguez, a former interim featherweight titleholder and the current number five ranked contender, has been sidelined since he most recently featured in his native Mexico back in February, suffering a rematch submission loss to former title chaser, Brian Ortega in the pair’s co-main event clash.
And set to return to action in a bid to skid a two-fight losing run following a prior knockout loss in a title unification clash with Alexander Volkanovski, Rodriguez is now slated to feature in a main event clash with former two-weight Bellator MMA champion, Pitbull in Miami.
However, earlier this week, Pitbull claimed he was initially targeted to fight former bantamweight best, Aljamain Sterling in a debut at UFC 314 to no avail, and then claimed Rodriguez had refused to fight him in a first offered fielded his direction.
“All of a sudden they [the UFC] asked if I would fight [Aljamain] Sterling in March, I said I’m in, but he ran,” Patricio Pitbull said during a recent interview with MMA Fighting. “Then they offered me Yair Rodriguez, but he didn’t respond. I messaged him in private. ‘What’s up, brother? Where’s your Mexican pride?’…he said it’d be very gratifying to welcome me to the organization.
Yair Rodriguez reacts to Patricio Pitbull comments pre-UFC 314
However, appearing during an interview with Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned this evening, Rodriguez did not take kindly to the Brazilian’s comments, labelling Pitbull as similar to a “mad girlfriend”.
“I think the guy (Patricio Pitbull) was just like really excited about fighting in the UFC and I think that probably like the only way that he was going to make that happen if I accept the fight,” Yair Rodriguez. “And whenever he DMed me, I said, yeah, man, like, sure, let’s do it. And he was just like, you know, like trying to get me to react to him. But, you know, I’m over that f*cking sh*t, you know, I’m here to fight now. That for me is like a mad girlfriend movement.
“Yeah, like I don’t fall for that shit that easily, you know,” Yair Rodriguez explained. “He was trying to, I think, maybe insinuate that you didn’t want to fight him, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. You were open to it regardless. Yeah, I mean, we’re in the fighting business, you know, and the UFC wanted this fight to happen.”
