Houston, TX — After making his promotional debut on short notice last March, Argentina’s Marcelo Rojo had a slew of opponents drop out.
No less than three, in fact. But despite the struggles to find someone to fight him, Rojo noted this week that he still went through those fight camps, so there is a benefit.
“The fight is only the cherry on top,” Rojo told media outlets including Cageside Press during the UFC 271 media day. “I evolved, and I’m not the same person as the last time.”
Beyond that, noted Rojo, “What am I supposed to do, just get depressed? I’m here to fight, if they don’t want to fight me, you know what it is.”
Rojo (16-7) at least has an opponent for Saturday. At UFC 271, he’ll face off with Kyler “The Matrix” Phillips. It’s a fan-friendly match-up, much like Rojo’s first UFC bout.
Looking back to his debut against Charles Jourdain, up a division at featherweight, Rojo took away some positives despite losing in the third round. “It was a short-notice fight. I took that fight in a bigger weight class, on short notice. I gave the fans an awesome fight, and I really enjoyed that,” said Rojo. “I’m a fighter of the people. Now I’m really excited because there’s a crowd [at UFC 271], and I’m going to show them who I am.”
As far as his fight style, which seems to lend itself to wars, “it’s the fight game, I don’t give a f*ck,” the bantamweight explained. “If I need to get hit to give you three, I’m going to do it.”
Watch the full UFC 271 media day appearance from Marcelo Rojo above. More coverage from the event can be found below. UFC 271 takes place Saturday, February 22, 2022 at the Toyota Center in Houston, TX.
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Israel Adesanya
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Bobby Green
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Derrick Lewis
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Kyler Phillips
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Roxanne Modafferi
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Andrei Arlovski
