No.3 ranked featherweight contender Yair Rodriguez’s 2025 campaign is over after he had to undergo hand surgery yesterday.

The 33-year-old Rodriguez injured his hand during a unanimous decision win over Patricio Pitbull in his only fight of the year back in April.

Rodriguez had initially been hoping to avoid surgery and had his eye on a potential fight with current 14l5 champ Alexander Volkanovski. In fact, at one point it was rumored as a potential headliner for the ‘Noche UFC 3’ event last month, but in the end it didn’t materialize.

Ultimately it was decided that Rodriguez would need an operation after all, which took place on Tuesday and is said to have been a success.

However, he will now be out of action for the next three or four months, which would see him being able to return in January or February at the earliest.

As things stand Volkanovski isn’t booked for the remaining PPV events in 2025, so it is still possible that Rodriguez could land that opportunity, and indeed the champion has mentioned that he might now land on a UFC event that’s planned for Sydney in February.

However, the likes of No.1 ranked Movsar Evloev and No.4 placed Lerone Murphy are also known to be eager to land the next shot at the title too.