My Thoughts on Yair Rodriguez/Jeremy Stephens

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I, like many sherbros, hoped that Jeremy Stephens would win via KO vs. Yair Rodriguez last night in Boston... but I'll be damned if that co-main wasn't AWESOME.

So here are some thoughts on the fight I'd like to share. Feedback is welcome.

- It goes without saying but Jeremy Stephens is a real BMF. No need for him to go down in ranking.
- IMO Yair possesses the best kicks in MMA right now... It's been a while since we've seen him, but it's so crazy... he's like a combination of Wonderboy & the Tasmanian devil, but...
- Yair has ZERO power in his fists! We all know Jeremy is tough, but I was shocked at how poor Yair's GnP was. He should be embarrassed at not being able to finish the fight in the 2nd round after that disgusting liver shot.
- 2nd round was ROTY IMO, great resilience from Stephens, and he ended the round on a high note (preventing it from going 10-8)
- If Zabit wins vs. Kattar, then I'd love to see Yair/Zabit to decide the next FW title challenger.

I hope you all enjoyed the fights last night! I sure did!
I'd love to hear what you all thought of this fight and the rest of the main card last night.
 
I like your thoughts. I was hella impressed with Yair
 
I agree with you yair really needs to work on maybe utilizing elbows on the ground more and damn Stephens is tough and showed a lot of heart fighting back in the second and into the 3rd. I really want to see a zabit vs Yair fight I honestly believe it will be a great one too both have similar styles but I think yair is better at the stand up and zabit has an advantage in grappling
 
- It goes without saying but Jeremy Stephens is a real BMF. No need for him to go down in ranking.

Stephens is a tough guy for sure but he was overranked before this fight and should at least drop to #12.
 
Great buildup to a great fight, and ended in good sportsmanship.

hope more fights go that route more often.
 
Just wish it would have been a 5 rounder.
 
Yair wastes a lot of energy , exciting guy but if he doesn't finish he is susceptible to tougher fighters in later rounds . If this was the original 5 rounder in Mexico Stpehens in round 4 or 5 could have been some deep water for him.
 
We learned absolutely nothing from this fight.


We knew Yair and Stephens are two of the most exciting fighters in the sport who are never in a dull fight, and when matched together we would watch them fight on every card if possible.


Stephens continues to be a Just Bleed fighter who winds up looking to take heads off, and what makes him exciting is also his biggest weaknesses: he doesn’t measure his risk, and doesn’t point fight.

Yair continues to be a flashy striker who loves to get creative on the feet and could cause problems for anyone in the division. His biggest weaknesses continues to be his mediocre ground game which has not improved one bit since his debut in the UFC.

As long as the UFC doesn’t match these guys up with grapplers, they’ll continue to put on great fights.
 
Yairs a very good striker but his wrestling game is weak
he'll continue to hand pick strikers and dodge all the wrestlers
 
I'm laughing at all these idiots who are ragging Yair for his cardio, or saying Stephens would have won if it was 5 rounds.

Like if it was 5 rounds in Mexico City, he would have fought the exact same way. Fuckin casuals...
 
I agree, awesome fight. Yair definitely lacks power in his hands, his kicks are on another level though. Impressive performance from both men.
 
Stephens continues to be a Just Bleed fighter who winds up looking to take heads off, and what makes him exciting is also his biggest weaknesses: he doesn’t measure his risk, and doesn’t point fight.

Where are people getting this Just Bleed always going for the knockout stuff from, by the way?
Didn't Jeremy turn into a wrestler in the third round despite needing a finish? The guy has a lot more decisions than he has finishes.

I like the guy, btw. But I think that statement is just wrong. He's never in really boring fights but he's also not the Just Bleed Disciple like some make him out to be.
 
Zabit vs Zair will look like a martial arts movie fight. Spin kicks n shietp
 
Well i did love that flashy attempt of a quick headkick ko there.
 
Stephens is a tough guy for sure but he was overranked before this fight and should at least drop to #12.

I completely disagree.

I think Stephens would've knocked Yair out in a 5-round fight.

Yair was explosive early, did great work, but he was a wilting flower toward the end.

Had there been two more rounds, Stephens would have finished him. I would bet the farm on that.

It's a shame the first fight didn't happen.
 
Yair has some of the worst GNP I’ve ever seen for a fighter so high level in most areas.

He throws hammerfists like he’s a HW even while the guy is covering up....little damage, tons of energy wasted.

Regardless it was a great performance, but if his TDD doesn’t get better he gets mauled by the top 5. That’s the real hole in his game.
 
- Yair has ZERO power in his fists! We all know Jeremy is tough, but I was shocked at how poor Yair's GnP was. He should be embarrassed at not being able to finish the fight in the 2nd round after that disgusting liver shot.

either that or stephens did a great job of covering up/moving his head just enough to avoid direct blows on the ground. however, after about 20-30 seconds of yair whiffing on finishing the fight on the ground, i dont know why he didnt just step back and make the ref stand up stephens. yair couldve hit him with another deadly liver kick and boom- fight over.
 
Had there been two more rounds, Stephens would have finished him. I would bet the farm on that.

Stephens wasn't even trying to finish in the third though, so I have no idea how you come to that conclusion. He shot for a TD and was content laying in guard for a whole round.
He actually was trying to point-fight thinking maybe the judges are inept enough to give him one of the first 2 rounds.
 
Stephens wasn't even trying to finish in the third though, so I have no idea how you come to that conclusion. He shot for a TD and was content laying in guard for a whole round.

Stevens didn't lay in the guard, he beat the shit out of Yair from the top. Same as Khabib does.

If they would've restarted for a Round 4, Stevens would knock Yair TF out.

If you cannot see that Yair was a wilting flower, you need to rewatch his body language at the end.
 
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