Outside Source
“Robocop” earned a hard-fought unanimous decision win over Hernandez in their recent Ultimate Fighting Championship main event, surviving his opponent’s constant pressure to secure the victory. Rodrigues explained his approach during a post-fight interview after UFC Sacramento, detailing the mental hurdles he had to overcome in the bout.
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Rodrigues says patience and experience kept him composed in the UFC Sacramento main event
Rodrigues admitted that he has faded and fatigued in earlier bouts in the UFC. While he was doing significant damage with calf kicks against Hernandez, the latter’s relentless wrestling never ceased, despite fighting out of southpaw for the majority of the later rounds. Rodrigues claims he wasn’t discouraged by Hernandez’s durability.
“I started calf kicks. I couldn’t finish. He came back,” Rodrigues said. “He hit me really good, but I put my mind on the place and I said, ‘OK, OK, I went in this position before.”
Rodrigues was determined not to let frustration dictate his performance and emphasized pacing himself for five rounds.
“I have to go back and then, you know, like organize my thoughts and keep going forward,” Rodrigues added. “The fight is not over yet. I have three more rounds to put my pace in and then to find a different way to win. I just keep my patience, man… And I said, ‘OK, no problem. We have more time. We have more rounds to fight.’ So, I just calm down, calm down.”
The bout earned both men Fight of the Night honors, with Rodrigues extending his win streak to four straight. He called out former champ Dricus Du Plessis in his post-fight interview.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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