Gregory Rodrigues is soaring up the middleweight rankings and he’s certain a big-name opponent has to be next.
“Robocop” put on the best performance of his career Saturday, putting on a complete performance against a gritty Anthony Hernandez to win a five-round unanimous decision in the UFC Sacramento main event. It was the fourth straight win for Rodrigues, who called out former 185-pound champion Dricus du Plessis in his post-fight interview.
“Dricus du Plessis, where are you, man?” Rodrigues said. “I want you. Let’s go. No. 1 contender to fight for the belt. Dricus du Plessis, I want you.”
Rodrigues entered UFC Sacramento as the No. 15 middleweight in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings and is set to make a big jump after defeating the No. 5 Anthony Hernandez (tied with top contender Caio Borralho). The next time the matchmakers come calling, Rodrigues expects to be given a chance to crack the top 3 rather than have to defend his spot.
“Why I’m going to look back?” Rodrigues said at the evening’s post-fight press conference. “I just beat the No. 6 in the rankings, tough guy, and I want to go forward. I think Dricus is a good fight or even Khamzat [Chimaev], I don’t know.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with the division, but the division is changing and I want my place right there.”
Rodrigues is now 11-3 in the UFC, with seven of those wins coming by way of knockout. After going the distance with Hernandez, he answered one of the biggest questions regarding his viability as a title contender, that being whether he could put on a complete performance over 25 minutes.
Now that he’s done his part, he expects the UFC to handle the rest.
“I love what the UFC does,” Rodrigues said. “They did amazing job. Hunter [Campbell], Mick Maynard, Dana [White], Sean [Shelby], they did amazing job. So I don’t need to rush. I will take my time, I made my call, I’m going to talk with my managers. I’m going to talk with the UFC and we will see it.”
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