UFC on ESPN 6 co-main event breakdown: Yair Rodriguez, Jeremy Stephens 28 days later

MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom breaks down the UFC’s top bouts. Today, we look at the co-main event for UFC on ESPN 6, which takes place Friday at TD Garden in Boston. The card airs on ESPN2.

Yair Rodriguez (11-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC)

Staple info:

• Height: 5’11” Age: 27 Weight: 145 lbs. Reach: 71″
• Last fight: No contest with Jeremy Stephens (Sep. 21, 2019)
• Camp: Mario Delgado BJJ (Mexico)
• Stance/striking style: Switch-stance/kickboxing
• Risk management: Fair

Supplemental info:

+ “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America” winner
+ Taekwondo black belt
+ 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu blue belt
+ 5 KO victories
+ 1 submission win
+ 3 first-round finishes
+ KO power
+ Aggressive pace and pressure
+ Athletic and explosive mover
+ Dynamic kicking attacks
^ Variates stance and style
+ Shows improvements at boxing range
^ Fundamentals to fancy counters
+ Serviceable wrestling and scrambling
+ Active and attacking guard
^ Excellent leg dexterity

Jeremy Stephens (28-16 MMA, 16-15 UFC)

Staple info:

• Height: 5’9″ Age: 33 Weight: 145 lbs. Reach: 72″
• Last fight: No contest with Yair Rodriguez (Sept. 21, 2019)
• Camp: Alliance MMA (San Diego, Calif.)
• Stance/striking style: Orthodox/kickboxing
• Risk management: Fair

Supplemental info:

+ Regional MMA titles
+ Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt
+ 18 KO victories
+ 2 submission wins
+ 13 first-round finishes
+ KO power
+ Consistent pace and pressure
^ Well-conditioned/good recovery
+ Heavy right hand
^ Overhands and uppercuts
+ Hard kicks and knees
+ Underrated wrestling ability
^ Strong hips and base
+ Solid submission defense
^ Good grip and hand-fighting
+ Devastating ground striker

Point of interest: Chasing storms

The co-main event in Boston features a fun storm of featherweight strikers who will be taking their second shot at one another after an unfortunate mishap in Mexico City resulted in a 13-second no contest.

Not one to say no to a gunfight, Jeremy Stephens has traditionally worn his brawling sensibilities like a merit badge (something that we saw in the fallout for their first fight, as well as the lead up to this one). And while fans and pundits may fuel that narrative even further, we have steadily seen technical improvements from the 33-year-old since his initial move to Alliance MMA.

Mixing in a healthy dose of feints to his footwork, Stephens has added to the effectiveness of his pressuring approach. Incorporating more kicks into his repertoire, the Iowa native will smartly work in assaults to both the body and legs of his opposition once establishing his range.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen Stephens attack opponents legs with impunity from the opening bell. More specifically, we saw Stephens target their lower leg extremities with calf kicks, a tactic that has been growing in popularity in recent years.

Targeting the tibial region of the leg is not only a painful attack that’s difficult to defend against, but it is also harder to counter off of given the flexibility of range that it allows for the attacker. Although these attacks could serve Stephens well give his current counterpart’s length, sharp strikers who can stick, move and counter have traditionally been Stephens’ common culprit in losses.

Enter Yair Rodriguez.

A dynamic, storm-riding striker, Rodriguez unabashedly translates his taekwondo skills at a high level. From front kicks to aerial assaults, Rodriguez can execute high-wire offense at the drop of a dime. And though this style of fighting can require a fair share of space, the 27-year-old talent has done a better job of incorporating more punches into his repertoire.

Up until his last outing, you could argue that Rodriguez – despite his dazzling displays and ability to switch stances – was a one-sided fighter, primarily relying on his right side to attack. However, as we saw in his fight with Chan Sung Jung, Rodriguez has made use of his lengthy stints between fights, demonstrating much better boxing fundamentals than before.

Whether he was throwing counter crosses from southpaw or hitting check hooks out of his orthodox stance, Rodriguez has become much more adept at using his left hand. That said, the original “TUF: Latin America” winner still showed some defensive holes in the pocket during his war with ‘The Korean Zombie” that Stephens will likely try his hand at any time he steps into the eye of the storm.

Next point of interest: Wrestling warfare