New York, NY — Middleweight Gregory Rodrigues knew he was in for a tough night at UFC 322, but after 15 minutes, he came away from the fight happy with his performance, which culminated in a unanimous decision victory over Roman Kopylov.
“It was a little bit more than I expected, but he’s a warrior, he’s a tough guy,” Rodigues (18-6) said following the fight, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. The Brazilian known as “Robocop” was also surprised by Kopylov’s takedown defense, which he called “very good.”
Now, the popular 185’er, just outside the UFC’s top 15, has two names in mind. Big ones.
“I have two names, good names, I think it’s going to be a good fight. One of them is Israel Adesanya, but he’s a DJ now, I don’t know if he has time to train,” stated Rodrigues. “But if he still is, I want to do a good fight with him. I think it would be amazing for me. One day when he was the champion, he talked about me when I split my head, ‘I want to fight with this guy, one day he’s going to be on the top.’ So I think it’s a good fight, but if not, I think Robert Whittaker is another good name.”
Whittaker is another former UFC champion, and both would be high-profile fights. Rodrigues is correct in remembering as well that, around the time he suffered a nasty gash in his fight with Chidi Njokuani, Adesanya did speak of him as a potential match-up one day.
“I’m still looking up, man. I will get my spot one day, sooner or later I will be fighting for the belt,” added Rodrigues. And he’s hoping that it’ll be a headlining spot next time out. “Five rounds, man. I want the five rounds again. That would be good.”
Going the distance on Saturday and showing a more well-rounded skillset, meanwhile, had other benefits, Gregory Rodrigues told Cageside Press.
“Fight’s like that are necessary to being myself, to going in the positions, to going in places I want. If I want to be a champion, sometimes I need a hard test. Fought three rounds, and now I want to fight five rounds again.”
Watch the full UFC 322 post-fight press conference with Gregory Rodrigues above.
