Former featherweight champion Max Holloway squared off with perennial contender Yair Rodriguez in today’s UFC Vegas 42 main event.

Holloway (23-6 MMA) was returning to action for the first time since laying a beating on Calvin Kattar back in January. That win was of course preceded by back-to-back losses to reigning featherweight champ Alex Volkanovski.

Meanwhile, Yair Rodriguez (13-3 MMA) was ending a two-year hiatus at UFC Vegas 42. ‘El Pantera’ had last competed in October of 2019, where he earned a unanimous decision victory over veteran Jeremy Stephens.

Today’s UFC main event proved to be a thrilling five round war. Max Holloway and Yair Rodriguez got after it right off the opening bell and didn’t stop trading strikes until the horn sounded to end their twenty-five minute affair. Although ‘El Pantera’ found success by landing a plethora of heavy kicks, it was the pace and volume of punches from ‘Blessed’ that proved to be the determining factor in the decision.

Official UFC Vegas 42 Result: Max Holloway def. Yair Rodriguez by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47 x2)

After exchanging pleasantries in the Octagon following their thrilling five round war, Holloway and Rodriguez linked up again in the back of an ambulance.

Check out the awesome footage showcasing the mutual respect between the two featherweight warriors below:

https://twitter.com/UFCEspanol/status/1459671832240418817

With today’s impressive victory, Max Holloway has now gone 3-3 over his past six fights. Prior to that mediocre stretch, ‘Blessed’ had put together a thirteen-fight win streak which culminated in him winning the UFC featherweight title.

Despite ending up on the wrong end of the judges scorecards, Yair Rodriguez stock only went up with today’s feisty effort. It will be interesting to see who Dana White and company plan on matching ‘El Pantera’ up against next.