Daniel
Cormier called up his protege mid-interview after a successful
UFC debut. 

Cormier student Imanol
Rodriguez (7-0) made his
UFC debut in a flyweight booking against Kevin
Borjas (10-5) at
UFC Mexico on Saturday at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City,
Mexico. The undefeated Rodriguez was a massive -470 favorite going
into his UFC debut. But Borjas dropped Rodriguez twice early in the
first round, in what appeared to be the makings of a huge upset.
However, Rodriguez managed to take Borjas down and survive the
first round. Rodriguez repeated his dominance on the mat in the
second round before knocking Borjas out with a barrage late in the
round. Rodriguez says he recognised that Borjas was tired enough
from the grappling to go for the finish.

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The Academy Way

“I knew he was gonna be a tough fight,” Rodriguez told the UFC.
“Kevin also really hungry for a victory so I knew he was trying to
take my head off. But I was focused and I followed the strategy and
thank God I finished with a win… I take down my opponent and when
he came up, he came up really tired. So I looked at that and tried
to just finish the fight.”

Rodriguez’s interview was interrupted by a congratulatory call from
his coach, Daniel
Cormier, who told him, “That’s the academy way.” Rodriguez was
initially on Cormier’s team on Season 33 of “The Ultimate Fighter”
last year, where he was eliminated in the semi-finals. The
26-year-old subsequently started training under “DC” full time and
earned his UFC contract with a first-round knockout win on the

Dana White’s Contender Series last year. 

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

Internationaler Kampfkunst und Kampfsport Kleinanzeiger