Yair Rodriguez spoils Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire’s debut at UFC 314
Yair Rodriguez looking for title shot after UFC 314 win
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, April 12, 2025, for UFC 314, going down live from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Headlining the event is a vacant featherweight title bout between no. 1 ranked former champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-4) and no. 3 ranked Diego Lopes (26-6).
Co-headlining the event is a lightweight contest between former no. 7 ranked multi-time Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler (23-9) and no. 12 ranked former Cage Warriors featherweight champion Paddy Pimblett (22-3).
Our feature UFC 314 fight of the evening came at 145 lbs division between no. 5 ranked former interim UFC featherweight champion Yair Rodriguez (20-5) and former Bellator featherweight & lightweight champion Patricio Freire (36-8).
Rodriguez, following his claim of the interim title over Josh Emmett (triangle choke), had since lost his last two straight to Alexander Volkanovski (TKO) in their title unification bout, and then former two-time title challenger Brian Ortega (arm-triangle choke), who he also boasts a TKO win over.
Freire on the other hand, though 37 years of age, finally made his UFC debut tonight and was thrown right into the deep end against one of the very best. Freire had gone 11-1 at 145 lbs since 2016, only losing to AJ McKee (guillotine choke) in that time, a loss of which he avenged in the immediate rematch (UD).
That marked the first time of his career he’d ever been finished, and he came into this bout off a title defense over former UFC talent Jeremy Kennedy (TKO). Freire also boasts wins over other UFC veterans such as Wilson Reis twice (UD, KO), Diego Nunes (KO), and Michael Chandler (TKO).
Continue reading to see how our UFC 314 feature fight went down:
Official Result: Yair Rodriguez def. Patricio Freire via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
The first round between these two was fought at a relatively timid pace, especially on behalf of the former Bellator champion. Rodriguez kept Freire on the outside of his range utilizing his kicks for much of the opening round while Freire didn’t do much other than make some reads.
Freire did catch a kick in the final 30 seconds of round one however and put Rodriguez on his back until the buzzer sounded.
Freire landed a pair of heavy left hooks soon after followed by a right-hand counter in the early stages of round two and secured a momentary takedown midway through it. He spent the remainder of the round trying to get into Rodriguez’ range, mostly unsuccessful in his attempts as Rodriguez was utilizing his wide array of kicks. Freire shot in on a takedown in the closing seconds of the middle stretch, only to get tossed to his back as the round came to a close.
Freire had a great first half to round three, chasing Rodriguez down and landing heavy combinations on him. It looked like things were looking up for the debuting Brazilian, he was making the necessary adjustments until he ran into a two-punch combination that floored him.
Rodriguez assumed top position and reigned down some nasty ground and pound consisting mostly of hammerfists and elbows. Eventually Freire threw up his legs for an armbar; it was actually a very well performed attempt and would have submitted a lot of lesser opponents.
Rodriguez however escaped danger and a scramble ensued, where the two eventually returned to their feet and fought out the remainder of round three.
It’s too bad Patricio Freire didn’t come over to the UFC until he was nearly 38 years of age. Nonetheless, that doesn’t take away from Yair Rodriguez’ brilliant performance, who defeated his second world champion opponent tonight at UFC 314.
In his post-fight interview, Yair Rodriguez called for a title shot with the winner of the UFC 314 main event, later this year in Mexico.
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