{"id":216527,"date":"2017-01-08T10:14:33","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T18:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=216527"},"modified":"2017-01-08T10:20:42","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T18:20:42","slug":"yair-rodriguez-bj-penn-bout-win-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-bj-penn-bout-win-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"Yair Rodriguez on BJ Penn bout: I have to win against a legend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Sunday, December 15, our own <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/fighter\/bj-penn\/\">BJ Penn<\/a>\u00a0will make his long-awaited return to the Octagon for a featherweight showdown with <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/stipe-miocic\/10-best-ufc-knockouts-2016\/6\/\">dangerous prospect<\/a> Yair Rodriguez. <a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/breaking-bj-penn-returns-to-headline-januarys-ufc-fight-night-event-in-phoenix\/\">The pair will duke it out in the main event of UFC Fight Night 103<\/a>, which will occur in Phoenix, Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>In advance of this anticipated featherweight clash, Rodriguez spoke to <a href=\"http:\/\/mmajunkie.com\/2017\/01\/ufc-fight-night-103s-yair-rodriguez-im-a-different-kind-of-animal-im-a-champion\">MMAJunkie.com<\/a> about the fight, and what a win over Penn would mean for his career.<\/p>\n<p>He began by addressing rumors that he asked for a fight with Penn specifically.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cBJ is saying that I asked for this fight, and I never asked for this fight,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cI don\u2019t know who told him that. The UFC just offered me the fight, and I said yes, so here we are, preparing ourselves to get in a war on Jan. 15. I don\u2019t know who told B.J. that I was asking for the fight, but he is wrong.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cI actually never knew that he was coming back from his retirement until the UFC offered me the fight, so here I am, fighting BJ.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Rodriguez then weighed in on what this fight with Penn means for his career.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cFighting BJ Penn is a pretty big deal,\u201d he said. \u201cHe\u2019s already a two-time world champion in two different weight classes, so it makes it a pretty big deal for me, a pretty big test for my career. It\u2019s a good opportunity to be tested by the UFC and see if they want to give me the title shot soon or not. I think this fight puts me in a good position for that title shot if I win.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cFirst of all, I have to win against a legend. But he\u2019s not just a legend, he\u2019s a real life, bone-and-muscle guy in front of me trying to rip my head off. He has a lot of experience. He\u2019s in the Hall of Fame. He knows what it takes to be a champion, and it\u2019s a really big test for me, to fight a guy who knows what it takes to be a champion. It\u2019s good for me. It\u2019s good preparation. I know this guy is going to be hard to beat, but I don\u2019t care. That\u2019s what I\u2019m here for, to fight the toughest guys in the world.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>How do you think Rodriguez vs. Penn will go? Sound off, PENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Sunday, December 15, our own BJ Penn\u00a0will make his long-awaited return to the Octagon for a featherweight showdown with dangerous prospect Yair Rodriguez. The pair will duke it out in the main event of UFC Fight Night 103, which will occur in Phoenix, Arizona. In advance of this anticipated featherweight clash, Rodriguez spoke to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":215666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10143,10302],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Yair Rodriguez on BJ Penn bout: I have to win against a legend | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On Sunday, December 15, our own BJ Penn will make his long-awaited return to the Octagon for a featherweight showdown with rising prospect Yair Rodriguez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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