Las Vegas — UFC Vegas 101 featherweight Christian Rodriguez is a believer in experience, and he has more of that in the UFC than upcoming opponent Austin Bashi.
“Experience is definitely something you can’t buy. You have to literally experience it,” Rodriguez (11-2) noted during Wednesday’s media day promoting the event, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. Rodriguez enters fight #7 with the company this weekend, while Bashi is making his sophomore appearance. “I even witnessed that myself in my last fight. It’s experience. Experience matters a lot in this game.”
Rodriguez came up short against Julian Erosa in his last outing, and outlined what he learned from that setback. “Juicy J” but Rodriguez away with a guillotine choke that night.
“Looking back at my last fight, Erosa, he’s a veteran in the game. You can’t make a single mistake in that game. You can be winning the fight, but if you make one single mistake, let’s say you take one little rest in the game, there’s a punishment for it. And that’s what I learned. I learned how to be dialed in for 15 minutes straight no matter what. I think when you’re so new in this game, when you’re new and it’s always been one-sided, you’re always willing to take a risk. And sometimes you can’t take a risk.”
“CeeRod” also confirmed on Wednesday that he’d be sticking with the 145lb division for the long term. Three of his four wins in the UFC came at 135lbs; Rodriguez, however, missed weight for back-to-back assignments in 2023.
“Featherweight’s my permanent home. I like how I feel at featherweight, and it’s my home for now.” Rodriguez was cutting “a good 30 pounds,” he noted, getting back up to 165lbs or so by Fight Night when he was cutting to bantamweight. “I’m already kind of lean, too. And I’m only getting older too, so I’m going to fill out naturally, I’m going to get stronger.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 101 media day appearance by Christian Rodriguez above.
