Scouting Report: Yair Rodriguez

Yair Rodriguez

Born: October 6, 1992 (Age: 30) in Parral, Mexico
Division: Featherweight
Height: 5’11”
Reach: 71”
Record: 14-3 (9-2 UFC)
Association: Valle Flow Striking
Stage of Career: Prime

Summary: Rodriguez possesses some of the best kicks in the sport. Not only are there an incredible assortment of kicks he can throw, often from unusual angles or with difficult-to-read set-ups, but they are all outstanding. Fast, powerful, sudden, technical and accurate—every quality one could want. His side kick to the legs and front kick to the body or head are especially admirable. Rodriguez’s ability to switch stances guarantees he can land these kicks against any opponent. His boxing has been improving. He has naturally fast hands, and he has a sneaky, effective jab from either stance, as well as a solid left hook. Rodriguez also possesses excellent cardio, which allows him to look strong at any point in a five-round fight. His main weakness has always been grappling, though he has at least marginally improved his takedown defense and ability to defend off his back. However, this remains an exploitable area for good enough grapplers, and struggles to get to his feet.

STRIKING

• Stance: Switches.
• Hand Speed: Well above average.
• Jab: Quick, sudden, sneaky and hard. It catches many opponents off-balance and can even hurt them.
• Cross: Technically solid but lacks power from either hand.
• Left Hook: A nice, tight arc with plenty of rotation, though not especially accurate or powerful.
• Right Hook: Slower and wider when compared to the left, with less power.
• Overhand Right: Sits between the left and right hook in terms of quality. While fast, it is thrown a little too wide and thus lacks power.
• Uppercuts: Almost never throws them.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Loves to throw punches in bunches when there are any openings at all.
• Favorite Combination(s): One hook after the other, in either order.
• Leg Kicks: Tremendously fast, powerful, accurate, technical and sudden. His brutal side kick to the legs is particularly noteworthy.
• Body Kicks: He has set up or even completed knockouts from body kicks alone. Excels at throwing the front kick to the midsection.
• Head Kicks: Shows tremendous flexibility, in addition to the shared characteristics with his other kicks.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: Yes, and he does so exceedingly well.

Rodriguez’s kicks are superlative—as good as they get in MMA. One never quite knows which kick is coming next or from what angle. His ability to switch stances means he can always choose the opposite of opponents and crumple them with a gut-busting body kick. Thus, it is a consistent source of steady, brutal offense. However, his hands are quite good, too. Interestingly, the sneaky, sudden, hard and fast jab is his most effective punch, nailing and even badly hurting opponents with it when they are too worried about his feet. His left hook is also effective, and though the rest of his shots are solid enough, they are less concerning. The cross is not much harder than his jabs, and his right hook and overhand are thrown a little too wide. However, the incredible assortment of ways Rodriguez can combine punches with his kicks makes his offense more dangerous than the sum of its parts, especially since his hands are fast and he loves throwing punches in bunches.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: Average. He can definitely be bullied by stronger opponents.
• Technique: Handles the fundamental positions well, fighting for underhooks, etc.
• Knees: Hard, fast and accurate, but he does not throw them too often for fear of being taken down.
• Elbows: Rodriguez has a nice, technical elbow on the break, but it lacks some accuracy.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Decent but vulnerable.

Rodriguez has good striking tools in the clinch, but he would rather not stay there since opponents are often stronger and can exploit his grappling at close range.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Mediocre at best. He tried a double-leg against Chan Sung Jung, but it was slow and a little too high.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: He looks technically solid going for outside trips and even harai goshis but lacks some strength for the attempts to be successful.
• Takedown Defense: Rodriguez is quick on his feet and understands all the basic techniques. However, he can be exploited by good grapplers or in later rounds when he becomes fatigued.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Relies on wall walking, as he is seemingly unable to hip escape. However, even when he wall walks, he does so deliberately, often eating knees on his way back up.
• Submissions: He tapped some low-level opponents prior to coming to the UFC, and while he can throw up a triangle or go for a brabo choke, none have been close to completion in the UFC.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Fails to control the biceps or move his head when an opponent throws strikes, which often leads to his eating heavy ground-and-pound. An obvious area of weakness.
• Top Control: Almost non-existent. Even damaged opponents have easily gotten up.
• Ground-and-Pound: Difficult to say for certain since he only uses it when trying to finish off opponents. However, even there, he is not always able to seal the deal—recall the second round of his Jeremy Stephens rematch—as he prioritizes speed over power and accuracy. That approach suits him on the feet, but with ground-and-pound, he either misses or fails to do enough damage with his shots.

Rodriguez’s grappling remains his most glaring weakness and an area he would love to neutralize. Offensively, he actually has gone for takedowns, with his attempts in the clinch looking quite good at times. However, he lacks strength, and even when he finds himself in top position, he struggles to establish any semblance of control. His ground-and-pound also prioritizes speed over accuracy and power, making it far less effective than it could be. Defensively, he holds up well against takedowns, though excellent grapplers can still get him down. Once there, he is fairly average at getting back up, relying on often slow wall walks that still allow an opponent opportunities to blast him with knees to the face. However, when kept down, Rodriguez is surprisingly weak and vulnerable to ground-and-pound, as he does not control the biceps or even move his head.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: While undeniably dynamic, he has been outmuscled by multiple opponents.
• Cardio: Able to fight at a hard, fast pace for all five rounds. This is necessary, as otherwise, he would not be able to throw as many kicks as he wants.
• Chin: He has shown the ability to eat many hard, flush connections on his feet with seemingly little effect.
• Recuperative Powers: They appear to be stellar from all indications.
• Intelligence: Figures out how to mix his kicks into his offense effectively and does not make any obvious mistakes in his matches. However, he has not shown as much improvement with his grappling or ground game as one may have hoped over the years. He also makes small mistakes with how he tries to finish and with certain grappling decisions.