{"id":216691,"date":"2017-01-09T12:08:19","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T20:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=216691"},"modified":"2017-01-09T12:08:19","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T20:08:19","slug":"yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/","title":{"rendered":"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Sunday, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Phoenix, Arizona, Mexico’s Yair Rodriguez will take on our very own BJ Penn<\/a> in a fight that is undoubtedly the biggest tes<\/a>t of his promising career. In advance of this scrap with Penn, Rodriguez joined Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour<\/a> to weigh in on the fight itself, his training, and what it means to fight a legend like Penn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In his interview, Rodriguez recounted the first time he saw Penn in action.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t even fighting MMA when I started watching BJ Penn,\u201d he said. \u201cI remember seeing this video, it\u2019s probably on YouTube, he was jumping out of a pool, you know, for training. He was doing that stuff. And his highlights, those are the first [memories] I have of him, watching him, growing up. And I was like \u2018Oh my god, BJ, BJ.\u2019 My brother and all my family, you know, we used to watch him. Now that I have the chance to fight him, it\u2019s a big shot for me. It\u2019s an honor to fight him.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Given that he used to watch BJ Penn fight, Rodriguez explained that he is very excited to fight him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis going to be a big test for me, for my career,\u201d he said. \u201cBJ is a two-time former champion, you know, two different weight classes. He already knows what it takes to be a champion. He already knows what it takes to be the best in the world. That\u2019s what I\u2019m looking for, people who have a lot of experience, and they can give me more experience when I\u2019m fighting them. This is a huge opportunity for me and I\u2019m pretty happy to fight him.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"BJ<\/p>\n

The Mexican prospect also touched on Penn’s doubters, who believe his time is passed and that his looming comeback is doomed to fail. Rodriguez is doing his best do ignore these Penn skeptics, and is expecting the best Penn ever this Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never get too confident [leading] into the fight,” he said. “I always prepare myself as if I\u2019m fighting the best. I\u2019m just hoping for the best BJ Penn ever. I never underestimate my opponents, less a guy who has been a two-time former champion. He already knows what it takes, like I\u2019m telling you, I can\u2019t be to comfortable with him in the cage. He can be very dangerous.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In preparation for this fight, Penn has spent some time training under the tutelage of Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Given that this is where Rodriguez used to train, this adds an interesting wrinkle to the pair’s upcoming showdown. Rodriguez weighed in on Penn’s training in his interview with Helwani:<\/p>\n

I know he\u2019s been training for a long time, and he\u2019s been training with people that know me very well, actually my friends. \u201cCowboy\u201d [Cerrone], Diego Sanchez, \u201cThe Magician [John Dodson], [Greg] Jackson, [Mike] Winkeljohn\u2026 all of those guys know me pretty well. They can easily tell him where I\u2019m good or not. But I don\u2019t really care. I\u2019m a fighter and you have to be worried about me in any part of the fighting game. I can grapple, I can wrestle, I can strike. I don\u2019t really give a f*ck. I\u2019m a fighter, and I was born a fighter. I\u2019m a champion, and I know I\u2019m a champion already.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Yair Rodriguez was complimentary of Penn’s legacy, and confident that Penn will be as sharp as ever this Sunday, he also assured that he will defeat the returning legend. Surprisingly, he predicted that he would beat the decorated BJJ player by submission.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll take me down, he thinks he\u2019s going to submit me, well, I will submit him,\u201d he said. \u201cIt could be a submission if he takes me down.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How do you see this Yair Rodriguez vs. BJ Penn bout going? Sound off, PENN Nation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Sunday, in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Phoenix, Arizona, Mexico’s Yair Rodriguez will take on our very own BJ Penn in a fight that is undoubtedly the biggest test of his promising career. In advance of this scrap with Penn, Rodriguez joined Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour to weigh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":149376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10143,10302],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nYair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This Sunday, in the main event of the UFC's trip to Phoenix, Mexico's Yair Rodriguez will take on our very own BJ Penn in the biggest test of his career.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This Sunday, in the main event of the UFC's trip to Phoenix, Mexico's Yair Rodriguez will take on our very own BJ Penn in the biggest test of his career.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Rodriguez-wins.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"380\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/\"},\"wordCount\":683,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"BJ Penn\",\"Yair Rodriguez\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2017\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/\",\"name\":\"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"This Sunday, in the main event of the UFC's trip to Phoenix, Mexico's Yair Rodriguez will take on our very own BJ Penn in the biggest test of his career.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"BJ Penn\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\",\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"description\":\"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win | BJPenn.com","description":"This Sunday, in the main event of the UFC's trip to Phoenix, Mexico's Yair Rodriguez will take on our very own BJ Penn in the biggest test of his career.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win | BJPenn.com","og_description":"This Sunday, in the main event of the UFC's trip to Phoenix, Mexico's Yair Rodriguez will take on our very own BJ Penn in the biggest test of his career.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":730,"height":380,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Rodriguez-wins.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tom Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Taylor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/"},"author":{"name":"Tom Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87"},"headline":"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win","datePublished":"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/"},"wordCount":683,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["BJ Penn","Yair Rodriguez"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2017","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/","name":"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00","dateModified":"2017-01-09T20:08:19+00:00","description":"This Sunday, in the main event of the UFC's trip to Phoenix, Mexico's Yair Rodriguez will take on our very own BJ Penn in the biggest test of his career.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/yair-rodriguez-talks-bj-penn-bout\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"BJ Penn","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bj-penn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Yair Rodriguez talks BJ Penn bout, predicts submission win"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87","name":"Tom Taylor","description":"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}