Yair Rodriguez has found himself in a bit of hot water after his UFC Mexico fight with Jeremy Stephens ended with an inadvertent eye-poke. The latest member of the MMA community to speak out against Rodriguez’s controversial post-fight actions is UFC analyst Kenny Florian.
“I didn’t like the fact that Yair Rodriguez was kind of insinuating to the crowd in a lot of ways that maybe Jeremy didn’t wanna continue fighting and all that stuff,” Florian said on the latest episode of the Anik & Florian podcast (via MMA News). “Which kind of incited the crowd, right? I mean these guys wanted to see a fight. I thought that was in poor taste. I don’t know if he was thinking things through all the way. I think he was frustrated by the situation. And I certainly don’t think he did this intentionally either. I don’t think he tried to scratch his eye intentionally either, obviously.”
Rodriguez has also been criticized for snapping at former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping, who was serving as the color commentator for UFC Mexico. Florian wasn’t impressed by this either.
“I thought that was in poor taste and even cheering after the fact of getting on top of the Octagon. Dude, it was a 15-second fight. You scratched the guy, the fight was over. What are you cheering for? I don’t know. I was kind of confused by it. He showed a lot of emotions out there, went at Bisping at one point. I thought that the whole thing was just kind of weird.”
What did you think of the way Yair Rodriguez acted after UFC Mexico? Are you with Kenny Florian on this one?
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/26/2019.