Brady Hiestand calls out Christian Rodriguez, wants to steal hype he took from Raul Rosas

LAS VEGAS – Brady Hiestand knows exactly what he wants next.

The UFC bantamweight is targeting a fight with Christian Rodriguez following his latest win in the octagon, as he wants to steal the hype that Rodriguez took from then-unbeaten sensation Raul Rosas earlier this month at UFC 287.

Hiestand (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) called out Rodriguez after his TKO win over Danaa Batgerel (12-5 MMA, 3-4 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 222 in Las Vegas.

“I saw his fight against Raul Rosas, and I wasn’t super impressed with anything he did,” Hiestand told reporters at the UFC Fight Night 222 post-fight press conference. “I thought he was good, well-rounded, but I like that matchup. We’re both young. He’s what, 25, 26? We both have a lot of growing to do, and I want to take some of his hype that he took from Rosas. So, I want to fight that dude.”

Hiestand likes Rosas and believes he’ll bounce back from the decision loss to Rodriguez. He just found Rosas’ inexperience to be the determining factor in the fight.

“I got a lot of respect from that kid,” Hiestand said. “We’re very similar in the fact that we’re heavy into grappling. I think he’s got great skills, he was just inexperienced. He’s just young. He blew his load in the first round and got too excited, spammed the double leg. But yeah, I got nothing but respect for that kid.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 222.