Yair Rodriguez And Jeremy Stephens Go At Each Other Ahead Of UFC Boston
Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens will pick things up from where they left at UFC Mexico City. The main event had to be called off, resulting from an eye poke, which left Stephens prone and unable to continue. However, “El Pantera” then accused Stephens of taking the easy way out. This resulted in both men getting into a shoving contest at the hotel lobby.
Their fight has since been re-booked as the co-main event of UFC Boston. Leading up to their fight this weekend, both the fighters have had some strong words for each other.
During the open workouts, Rodriguez told the media that only Stephens knows why he did not choose to continue.
“He’s the only one who really knows [if he could have continued]”, Rodriguez said (transcript via The Mac Life). “But what I really think, from my point of view, the situation overwhelmed him a little bit. What I think is he could continue, but I’m not him. That’s what I think. It’s just hard to say something from my position. Of course I was there first row, and we’re fighters, we’re here to fight.
“But if you go back and see his body language, he never attempted to fight again. Whenever you get an eye poke, or something hurts, you’re desperate to go back in there and finish that as soon as possible. You don’t want to let time run. What happened was a lot of time running. He’s the only one who really knows what truly happened.”
Jeremy Stephens also fired off at Yair Rodriguez, saying that if he manages to walk out of the cage on his own, then he hasn’t done his job.
“I feel good”, Jeremy Stephens said. “Cool as a cucumber. Calm like a bomb. Ready to go off. I’m gonna kill this kid. If he don’t die, it don’t count. That’s what I’m thinking. It’s always personal. It’s always personal when you fight, this kid’s trying to take money off my kid’s table. What if I was coming into your house, taking food off your table and smacking your kid? That’s the way I look at it. How would you feel if I was to do that? Personal? Fuck yeah, it’s personal.
“It’s a fight. You only get one cheque if you lose. You think this is a game? You think this is a sport? It’s not a sport, it’s fist fighting bro. I’m fighting for my blood, I’m fighting for my family every time I step in there.”
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