“El Pantera” Yair Rodríguez, 30, of Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico is now an Ultimate Fighting Championship champion. The Mexican professional mixed martial artist was one of the winners at “UFC 284”.

Featuring 13 bouts, “UFC 284” was held at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia on February 12, 2023. In the co-main event of the evening, Rodriguez and Josh Emmett, 37, of Sacramento, California, United States competed for the interim UFC Featherweight Championship title.

Jason Herzog served as the referee of the title bout. He stopped the featherweight contest after 4 minutes and 19 seconds in the second round.

Rodriguez submitted Emmett via triangle choke. It marked the Mexican MMA fighter’s 10th UFC win.

The victory improved Rodriguez’s professional MMA record to 15 wins, 3 losses and 1 No Contest. On the other hand, Emmett now has 18 wins and 3 losses.

In the main event of “UFC 284”, UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander “The Great” Volkanovski, 34, of Windang, New South Wales, Australia failed to dethrone UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev, 31, of Makhachkala, Dagestan, Russia. Volkanovski is expected to defend his title from Rodriguez soon.

Born and raised in Parral, Rodriguez is Rigoberto Rodríguez Olivas and Norma Alicia Portillo‘s son. In 1997, Yair started training in taekwondo.

Yair made his professional MMA debut in 2011 and his UFC debut in 2014. The first nine opponents he defeated in the UFC are Leonardo Morales, Charles Rosa, Dan Hooker, Andre Fili, Alex Caceres, BJ Penn, Jung Chansung, Jeremy Stephens and Brian Ortega.

On September 21, 2019, Yair and Jeremy Stephens headlined “UFC Fight Night 159” at Mexico City Arena in Mexico City, Mexico. It was declared a No Contest after an accidental eye poke rendered Stephens unable to continue.