The emerging competitor of the middleweight had stopped his momentum in his first place in the main event.
Gregory Rodrigues had an enormous chance of his hands that came to the Apex last Saturday evening UFC Vegas 102.
After a streak with three fights, the Brazilian won the opportunity to take a top 10-contradictor in former title champion Jared Cannonier.
'Killa Gorilla' was able to bounce back in the win column at the age of 40 with a version that somehow took age.
Instead of making the fight a coming party for Rodrigues, it was a reminder that he still has some work to do to insist on a place in the ranking.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Michael Bisping says that the efficiency of Gregory Rodrigues cost him against Jared Cannonier
Gregory Rodrigues started his first UFC head event very well after taking the first round on all three Scorecards.
Jared Cannonier even hit the floor twice in the first five minutes, but was able to recover and use his wrestling to endure a difficult start of the fight.
Over time, the 19-Fight UFC veteran started to turn things around before he landed a huge elbow to drop Rodrigues towards the end of the third round before he only put him in the fourth for 21 seconds.
While the calmness and experience of Cannonier has received many compliments in the aftermath, former UFC Middleweight Michael Bisping champion believes that Rodrigues is currently not well equipped to fight five rounds.
The UFC Hall of Famer pulled the fight together in a recent YouTube video where he said that the Brazilian in the early stages were shining in clear before he breaks out himself.
“In round two we started to see a completely different fight. Gregory Rodrigues is really big for the weight class, so I'm guessing he has a monster weight. He is also great, he is fast, he is powerful, he has that fast muscle pulling muscle fiber. I always say, and it's a cliché right now, you can't be a sprinter and a marathon runner at the same time, it's just impossible. He is really, really good in the first round, he has Jiu-Jitsu from world class that he never uses these days. ”
In the end, Bisping believes that Rodrigues for how impressive was a Cannonier turning point opened the door for him by fading in the fight.
“You must be able to maintain that pace and he couldn't do that.”
This fight will be a big lesson for Gregory Rodrigues
Gregory Rodrigues is certainly no stranger to dig deeply and to have getting wars back and forth during his UFC career.
His main event collision with Jared Cannonier may have both earned a fight of the night bonus, but 'Killa Gorilla' is much too technical and experienced to get into a fight in contrast to some of the former opponents of Rodrigues.
'Robocop' is certainly dangerous and we have seen that Cannonier proves several times that he is incredibly durable, even in his recent losses for Caio Borralho and Nassourdine Imavov.
If Rodrigues is able to learn from this experience, he would have to offer a much more sustainable threat if he gets a second main event in the spotlight in the future.
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