A major featherweight fight between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez has been announced as the main event for UFC Fight Night 210 in New York on July 16th.
The 31-year-old Ortega is coming off an unsuccessful attempt to seize the 145lb title from Alexander Volkanovski back at UFC 266 in September of last year, losing out by unanimous decision.
That was Ortega’s second title challenge, having also come up empty-handed in his first attempt against Max Holloway a few years earlier due to a doctor’s stoppage TKO after taking four rounds of punishment.
However, aside from those title losses Ortega has never been beaten in his other 16 professional fights, including an impressive decision win over The Korean Zombie sandwiched inbetween those two defeats.
As for Rodriguez, he is returning after a ‘Fight Of The Night’ unanimous decision loss to Max Holloway back in November of 2021.
Before that Rodriguez had KO’d The Korean Zombie and earned a unanimous decision victory over Jeremy Stephens, all of which leaves him ranked No.3 on the featherweight ladder heading into this fight, one place below the No.2 placed Ortega.
Ortega vs. Rodriguez fronts a UFC Fight Night 210 card that will also feature Askar Askarov vs. Alex Perez, Michelle Waterson vs. Amanda Lemos and Li Jingliang vs. Muslim Salikhov.
