Yair Rodriguez first fought in Mexico City back in 2014, when he won the featherweight tournament on "The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America." A native of Parral in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, Rodriguez competed again in his nation's capital in his next fight, his formal UFC debut in 2015. He won both of those bouts, as he has six of his seven UFC outings, three of them main events.
On Saturday, Rodriguez fights in the UFC Fight Night main event in Mexico City, taking on veteran Jeremy Stephens. The fights are on ESPN+, with the main card starting at 8 p.m. ET and the prelims at 5 p.m.
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Rodriguez (12-2) is coming off one of the most thrilling knockouts in UFC history. Last November, he was on the verge of losing a decision to Chan Sung Jung when he drew "The Korean Zombie" into a last-second exchange and landed a no-look elbow with an upward trajectory that gave Rodriguez an unlikely victory. The finish came at 4 minutes, 59 seconds of Round 5.
Stephens (28-16) seems to have been around forever -- he's fought in the UFC since 2007 -- but is just 33. He has lost his past two fights, but the defeats came at the hands of legend Jose Aldo and rising star Zabit Magomedsharipov. Prior to that, he had a three-fight winning streak.
Also on the card is a co-main event between ranked strawweights: former champion Carla Esparza, No. 10 in the ESPN rankings at 115 pounds, and No. 9 Alexa Grasso.
Fans can check out FightCenter for live coverage of the event.
UFC Fight Night: Rodriguez vs. Stephens
ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET
Men's featherweight: Yair Rodríguez vs. Jeremy Stephens
Strawweight: Carla Esparza vs. Alexa Grasso
Men's flyweight: Brandon Moreno vs. Askar Askarov
Women's bantamweight: Irene Aldana vs.Vanessa Melo
Men's featherweight: Martin Bravo vs. Steven Peterson
ESPN+, 5 p.m.
Men's bantamweight: José Quiñónez vs. Carlos Huachin
Men's featherweight: Marco Polo Reyes vs. Kyle Nelson
Strawweight: Ariane Carnelossi vs. Angela Hill
Men's flyweight: Sergio Pettis vs. Tyson Nam
Light heavyweight: Vinicius Moreira vs. Paul Craig
Women's bantamweight: Sijara Eubanks vs. Bethe Correia
Lightweight: Claudio Puelles vs. Marcos Mariano
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