Las Vegas – UFC middleweight Gregory Rodrigues gets his first UFC main event bout at UFC Vegas 102 against Jared Cannonier on Saturday night.
For “Robocop” the main event slot proves that he belongs with the top middleweights in the world.
“I was very happy, my wife and I (were like): ‘what?! The UFC offering me Jared Cannonier for the main event? #7 in the world!’,” Rodrigues told reporters on Wednesday.
“But on the other side I look at that and I see that my hard work pays off. I know what I did to get this opportunity. Nothing coming from the sky, no, (I’ve been) working for this, and I’m ready for this so I prove I belong in the position.”
Rodrigues (16-5) has been hanging outside the top 15 for a while now even though he holds a 7-2 record in the UFC. Victories over Jun Yong Park, Julian Marquez, Chidi Njokuani and Brad Tavares haven’t been enough to make him a consistent presence in the rankings.
He hopes a win over Cannonier changes all of that.
“I believe (it’s) the perfect time for this fight. I respect Jared Cannonier, I respect everything he did, he fought for the belt already,” he said.
“But man I know who I am. I know where I want to go so he’s going to be one more step on my journey to be the champion of this division.”
As for the fight itself Rodrigues says the outcome is already decided.
“Either I’m going to knock him out, or submission, or by points. Doesn’t matter,” he said.
“This fight’s going my way.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Gregory Rodrigues above. He takes on Jared Cannonier at UFC Vegas 102 on Saturday night.
