PERTH, Australia – Yair Rodriguez had some nice words of encouragement for Josh Emmett immediately after submitting him at UFC 284.
Rodriguez (15-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) captured the interim featherweight title in this past Saturday’s co-headliner at RAC Arena when he made Emmett tap out with a triangle choke in Round 2. Both Emmett (18-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) and Rodriguez were very respectful toward each other in the lead-up to their fight, and they carried that same energy afterward as Rodriguez was seen consoling Emmett when the fight ended.
“This is a really important moment for us, and when I finished the triangle, I could see in his expression the desperation of like, ‘F*ck, I lost,'” Rodriguez told reporters at the UFC 284 post-fight news conference. “It’s like he saw his opportunity go away, but I just wanted to say to him no.
“I told him, ‘No, no. Hey, no. Stop that thinking that you have right now. You’re a warrior. You will overcome this. You got this.’ So the only thing that I could say to him was, ‘You’re a warrior, brother. We find a way to stand up every time we fall to the ground, and I’m sure he will do that. So stay strong, and I’m sure we’ll see each other in the future. So keep staying stronger, brother.'”
Having once been briefly cut from the UFC, as well as experiencing a couple of setbacks that put a momentary halt to his title aspirations, Rodriguez draws from personal experience when offering Emmett advice.
“Those are like the demons that you have to fight every single day of your life, the what-ifs,” Rodriguez said. “What if I can’t, what if I don’t, or what if this happens? Some of those things never became true, so the only thing you can do is live your life the best way possible, avoiding the most mistakes you can, and do the best you can, and stop thinking that. With that said, I’ve been learning to fight my demons every single day and winning over them every time I think of situations like that.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 284.
