Yair Rodriguez had a strong start to his UFC career after making his debut in 2014 by winning six fights in a row. In his six-fight streak, El Pantera had stacked up wins over big names like BJ Penn, Dan Hooker, Alex Caceres, and a few others.
However, after breaking through the featherweight ranks, Rodriguez had to face several adversities in his UFC career. Hence it is safe to say that El Pantera has faced both highs and lows in his eventful UFC career. Hence his title interim title shot against Josh Emmett is a much-deserved one. He will take on Emmett at UFC 284 for the UFC interim featherweight title.
Yair Rodriguez has been very dominant in his UFC career so far except for one fight. So let us take a look at that one fighter who has handed El Pantera his only loss in his UFC career.
Who has defeated Yair Rodriguez in the UFC?
As mentioned earlier, Yair Rodriguez was UFC’s biggest prospect as he dominated his opponents and won many fights after his debut. However, after going 6-0 in the featherweight division, El Pantera was pitted against former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in 2017.
It is needless to say that this was Rodriguez’s biggest fight in his career as he got an opportunity to face a great fighter like Frankie Edgar on the main card of UFC 211. However, this matchup came as a huge surprise for several fight fans because Edgar was ranked second in the division. Meanwhile, Yair who was an upcoming star was seventh in the standings at that time.
Frankie Edgar stopped the Rodriguez hype train and showed the difference in the rankings and skillset between the two featherweights. The Answer obliterated Yair Rodriguez throughout the fight and won this contest via TKO in the second round.
In this fight, Frankie Edgar pushed the pace and landed an early takedown in the first round. Thereafter the former lightweight champion showcased his class by delivering some powerful ground and pound. Rodriguez’s suffered a lot of damage during this round and his eye had swollen up.
Similar to the first round, Edgar took Yair down and beat him up throughout the second round. Consequently, the Mexican fighter’s eye was completely shut after enduring a lot of damage. After checking the extent of Yair’s eye injury, the doctor stopped the fight and the referee declared Frankie Edgar as the winner by TKO-doctor’s stoppage.
This defeat against Edgar was Yair Rodriguez’s first and only loss in the promotion. Since that loss, El Pantera has bounced back by defeating Chan Sung Jung and Jeremy Stephens to rise to the number three spot in the featherweight ranks. However, he fell prey to Max Holloway in his following fight at UFC Fight Night Holloway vs Rodriguez.
Max Hollway won the fight via unanimous decision in November 2021. However, it was certainly a close fight, especially the first few rounds. However, Max slowly established his dominance and outclassed the Mexican fighter in a 5-round slugfest. Despite the loss, it showed that Yair was incredibly tough and would not quit in the face of adversity.