Henry Cejudo thinks Yair Rodriguez is the one to dethrone UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski.
Volkanovski (25-2 MMA, 12-1 UFC) will look to unify his belt with interim champ Rodriguez (15-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the UFC 290 headliner July 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Cejudo didn’t point out any weaknesses in Volkanovski’s game when breaking down the fight, but expects Rodriguez’s unpredictability to play a big factor. Volkanovski suffered his first octagon loss in his most recent outing at UFC 284 against lightweight champ Islam Makhachev in a razor-thin decision.
But Cejudo sees Rodriguez posing more problems than Makhachev.
“I know the majority of you guys are going to go with Alexander Volkanovski – I really do,” Cejudo said on his YouTube channel. “But I think if Yair can really hone in on a lot of stuff that I was talking about – (he’s) just athletically gifted – if he’s able to do it right in that fight, I do believe that Yair Rodriguez is a much different fight than Islam Makhachev, and maybe for that reason I think it’s a lot tougher of a fight because this man’s going to throw a lot more kicks.
“If you take him down, he’s going to be a lot more vicious on bottom. The biggest question that I have for a guy like Yair Rodriguez: If he can tame some of that power, you don’t have to throw so much. I think I can easily see you outpoint this dude. You don’t (have to) knock him out – you’ve just got to outpoint him.”
When making his prediction, Cejudo picked Rodriguez for the upset.
“I don’t know if it’s the whole Brandon Moreno thing or whatever that may be, but either way, if I had to choose somebody to win, to become the new featherweight king, and I’m serious about this, I’m going to have to go with Yair Rodriguez,” Volkanovski said.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 290.
