Gregory
Rodrigues had to dig deep to earn victory at
UFC Fight Night 210.
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The Brazilian absorbed a heavy knee early on in his co-main event
encounter with Chidi
Njokuani, and that blow opened a massive cut on his forehead.
The man known as “Robocop” admitted that he needed a moment to
regain his bearings.
“I know I was dizzy,” he said at Saturday’s post-fight press
conference. “I was like, ‘Man what happened?’ The blood starting
coming down. i was kind of blind, trying to figure out [what I was
going to do] … After that cut, everybody is gonna be confident to
try to finish the fight. Then I started to throw my hands to show
him I’m still there.”
Rodrigues did exactly that. His rally began in the second half of
Round 1, as he hurt and dropped the Bellator veteran. That set the
stage for a relatively quick finish in the second frame, when he
tripped Njokuani to the canvas and unloaded with ground strikes for
a stoppage at the 1:27 mark of the period. Rodrigues said he could
feel Njokuani fading early in Round 2.
“When I finished the first round I came back to my corner. I was
worried about the cut…When the second round started, he tried to
pressure me. I said, I need to pressure him more,” Rodrigues said.
“In one part of the fight, I felt he [was] tired. His breath was
different … When I grabbed him in the clinch for the takedown, I
felt his body a little bit weak. Then I took him down and said, now
I’m gonna finish the fight. It was a big war. I love that
fight.”
Rodrigues needed a quick finish because if the cut had gotten any
worse, the cageside doctor might have waved off the contest. He
joked at the presser that he now has “like three eyebrows” while
praising his opponent for a bout that received “Fight of the Night”
honors.
“Chidi is a warrior. He’s a great fighter,” Rodrigues said. “He
showed that to me inside the Octagon. A win against a guy like that
makes me proud of myself. I want to say thank you to Chidi for the
fight, we got the bonus, we deserve that.”
In five UFC appearances, Rodrigues has quickly established a
reputation as an all-action fighter. He plans on delivering each
time he steps into the Octagon.
“I can say one thing. Always when I’m inside the Octagon, I’m there
100 percent and I give everything I have,” he said. “I leave
everything there. Always expect the best from me.”