UFC Phoenix Free Fight: Yair Rodriguez Defeats Charles Rosa in Barnburner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F5hdDPYoAk

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has been uploading free fights to promote this Sunday night’s (Jan. 15) UFC Fight Night event in Phoenix, Arizona. This time, we go back to June 13, 2015 at UFC 188. Yair Rodriguez fought fellow 145-pounder Charles Rosa in Mexico City.

“El Pantera” and Rosa had an exciting affair that was left in the hands of the judges. Rodriguez got the split decision nod. The two fighters each earned a “Fight of the Night” bonus.

Rodriguez will do battle with the biggest name he has ever encountered. Sharing the Octagon with him will be UFC Hall of Famer and former two-division champion B.J. Penn. Rodriguez will look to extend his winning streak to eight. Penn, on the other hand, will be in search of his first victory since Nov. 2010.

The event’s co-main event will showcase two veteran lightweights. Joe Lauzon will meet former Bellator mainstay Marcin Held. Both men are coming off losses and are vying to rebound. A victory for Held would be the first in his UFC run.

Another bout on tap for the main card will feature a returning welterweight and The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 11 winner. Ben Saunders makes his return to the Octagon when he goes toe-to-toe with Court McGee.”The Crusher” has gone 4-4 in his last eight bouts. “Killa B” is 6-2 in his last eight outings. In that span, he pulled off the first omoplata submission win in UFC history over Chris Heatherly back in August 2014.

A bantamweight bout between No. 6 ranked Jimmie Rivera and Bryan Caraway was pulled from the card when “Kid Lightening” was bitten by the injury bug. Rivera initially agreed to face replacement Marlon Vera, but he decided not to go through with the bout. “El Terror” was removed from the event and Vera was none too pleased about the situation.

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