Yair Rodriguez is officially a UFC champion – even if it is of the interim variety – after he submitted Josh Emmett this past Saturday at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia.
Rodriguez looked impressive for 9 minutes before he locked in a triangle choke to make Emmett tap out late in the second round. The Mexican star’s victory should set up a likely title-unification bout with featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who came up short in his bid for champ-champ status by dropping a unanimous decision to lightweight champ Islam Makhachev.
While Rodriguez has endured his ups and downs during his UFC tenure, his performance at UFC 284 was a statement. And it has us wondering: How much of a threat is he to Volkanovski?
Our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Nolan King and Dan Tom answered that with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
Check out their discussion in the video above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode below.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 284.