Welterweight Daniel Rodriguez took questions from the press at the official UFC Charlotte media day ahead of his main card …
welcome back good to be back well it’s my first first time in Charlotte well yeah I guess it does feel kind of like it’s the same place no matter where we are in the world huh yeah yeah so can you talk to me a little bit about what you’ve been working on over the last six months uh over the last six months uh just been you know just working on um you know just just trying to uh you know kind of kind of you don’t just bounce back from my last fight you know it was a first loss then my in my opinion my first real loss um you know just working on my holes and and uh you know just kind of just trying to bounce back and and you know come back even stronger I knew you were supposed to fight Gunner and now you’re fighting Ian do you feel like this is a better fight than that first matchup uh yeah it’s a little bit of a better match-up uh uh training a whole different training camp uh my last fight was a lot of rap uh a lot of grappling and this one is like I get to do what I love to do and let’s focus on striking what were your first thoughts when you heard that name um I never I I had only heard his name once I didn’t really think nothing much to uh of it um only reason why I took this fight is he called me out on the social media post saying he could all strike me so you know I’m you know I’m gonna hold him to that you know yeah he um was here talking a lot of trash of course um saying that he wants to make you pay for accepting the fight and all of the stuff sounds like he really feels like he’s going he says he’s going to make uh Saturday or downfall what’s your reaction to that my downfall um I don’t see I don’t see that happening I feel like uh he’s still very green and young in the game and in the sport uh I feel like I’m his toughest matchup to date he ain’t really fought nobody really uh um and uh yeah I mean he’s still young and he needs to be humbled and I’m here to Humble him do you feel like the um hype around him is Justified at all or do you feel like it’s it’s some sort of star power that he has it’s not really about his skill I mean he does have a a pretty good skill set I don’t think he has um I don’t think he’s he’s ready for it I mean if he’s like he’s not like no Phenom he’s not like knocking dudes out he’s not like he’s got a little hype off of him you know uh you know because I feel like you know he’s kind of like they’re building him up you know and I’m here to I’m here to take all that away what sort of fight are you expecting from him he sort of um felt like he was going to finish you in the second or third round because he wanted to make sure that you were aware that he was the better fighter what sort of fight do you see between the two of you um I see uh definitely uh a banger one for the one just one for the fans um I don’t believe that he he’s been hit as hard as as I as I could hit and and I’m like I’m a real dog in there you know and uh he’s gonna have me in his face the whole time and I could see my I could see him like backing away and running away from me the whole time thank you Daniel you said you know he’s got a bit of hype but we don’t really know his level just yet you know he’s still working through the ranks do you think when it when there’s a guy like that who hasn’t been in there in a massive fire fight who hasn’t been in there when it’s going against them they can kind of crumble until we see that we don’t know how good they can be yeah that’s very true uh like his last opponent kind of I hate to say it but he’s one of the his last opponents one of those guys where you’re supposed to beat that guy you know I I I destroy that guy if I fought that guy you know and and he dropped him you know uh not just goes like you know it’s it’s a little suspect his chin and and and and his experience level and and uh yeah he pulled through that and was able to win the fight but I think in a situation where he’s fighting a like a real dog like me who was gonna like I I don’t I don’t I don’t I don’t train a fight you know I train to finish you know and uh I got a lot um riding on this fight and I’m coming off a loss and and and yeah I didn’t fight uh Gunner Nelson but I felt like that like I’ve been in a fight count I’ve been a real long fight camp and um um I’m more prepared than I’ve ever been I’ve been just the most consistent the most dedicated I’ve been for a fight in a long time you said you got a lot riding on this just because the pressure you’re putting on yourself and and how much you want to get this win yeah I don’t put no pressure on myself I say I got a lot riding on this is because uh I got a lot planned for the future I’m thinking ahead uh I do plan on on showing that I’m the better fighter I belong in my position and I and and and you know he’s not ready for me awesome