Gregory Rodrigues knows exactly what his assignment is in the main event of this weekend’s UFC Vegas 102.
Heading into his first main event in the UFC and thankful for the chance to break into the 185lb rankings, former LFA champ Rodrigues (16-5) also knows that the middleweight division has changed. New players sit at the top, and names like Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, Sean Strickland, and Kelvin Gastelum are either in flux or on the decline at the moment.
“I see the division is changed,” fan-favorite “Robocop” told Cageside Press head of his first main event in the UFC. “New blood is coming up. New guys start going into the rankings. I believe, right now in my head, Jared Cannonier is the guy I want. I want his head, I want to take him out, and I will get my spot at the top.”
From there, added Brazil’s Rodrigues, he’ll begin to plan his next step. “I will think about some names for sure. I’m not going to tell you now. But yeah man, I see the division is [stacked], it’s going to crash. Any time you’re going to face those guys, you’re going to face each other- I love it, because there’s so many good fighters coming up.”
Rodrigues pointed to teammate Brendan Allen and Alexander “Fluffy” Hernandez as an example thereof, along with his own fight. “February and March, there’s a lot of middleweight fights that are gonna happen. I’m excited, I’m right there. And everybody’s going to be worried about me, for sure. But I will do what I need to do, and I’m not going to rush.”
“Like I said in my debut, I’m not here to rush, I’m here to make my foundation solid. I have my foundation already, and I’m going to start building on top, and I’m going to build it very nice, so I’m gonna stay on top for a long time. For a while, for sure.”
There’s no question as to what the appeal of Gregory Rodrigues vs. Jared Cannonier is. Both men hit hard, very hard. Gregory Rodrigues, however, believes he has the Fight IQ to get the job done, beyond just landing a knockout blow.
“I have much more maturity going into this fight. I know I hit hard, but I’m very smart and I know what I need to do to get this win and beat Cannonier. I’m going to beat him for sure. No way, no chance he’s going to take that from me,” he stated. “I respect him, I respect his journey, I respect everything he did in his career but I look to myself always. I look at who I am, I know who I am, I know what I want and I’m going to do it.”
Watch our full interview with UFC Vegas 102 headliner Gregory Rodrigues above.
