Rodriguez gets raise, new contract for fighting overweight Gastelum

Daniel Rodriguez was put into a tough position this past weekend when his opponent Kelvin Gastelum came in so heavy their welterweight fight had to be moved up to middleweight.

Rodriguez was already down below 180 pounds when he found this out, but didn’t hesitate to accept the fight anyway. This undoubtedly made the UFC happy considering eight fights had already fallen off their important debut event in Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for “D-Rod” in the cage. Gastelum used those extra pounds to shrug off his opponent’s shoots and shots, controlling the fight en route to a unanimous decision win.

The loss is Rodriguez’s third in a row, but he has no regrets about accepting it.

“S— didn’t really go my way,” he said in a video released to his socials. “It’s the fight game that sure happens. I mean, I took the risk. There’s no way I was gonna come all the way out here and and not fight. You know?”

“I guarantee if that fight was at at 170 pounds, he would not have the energy to take me down. He wouldn’t have been that strong, and he wouldn’t have been able to take most of my punches. But, you know, I I ain’t gonna dwell on it … I’m done complaining about the fight. F— it. It happened. I knew the risk. With the risk came great rewards.”

“I lost the fight, but I gained so much more in return,” Rodriguez said. “A ton of respect from the fight community, a nice raise, a six fight contract, 30% of his [purse]. You know, like, I can’t even be mad. Yeah. I wanted to win, but I want so much more in the end.”

“I knew the risk. I took it. Put on a hell of a show. Fans love me. I love y’all. My kids are proud. My family’s proud. You know, I lost, but I won. So f— it.”

That’s good news for Rodriguez and the roster as a whole. When you accept these massive disadvantages in a fight to keep the match together, this is the kind of reward you should get. The UFC hasn’t always stepped up for the fighters that stepped up for them, so it’s nice to know the man’s being taken care of after getting cheated by Gastelum.