A battle of top-15 strawweight contenders sees one fighter’s momentum continuing to roll upward, while another one lays down her gloves in the center of the Octagon.
The rising Gillian Robertson continued her winning ways during the UFC Des Moines prelims, scoring a finish of Marina Rodriguez, who retired following the fight.
The fight was a dominant one from start to finish for Robertson, who had control time on the ground in top position for approximately five-and-a-half of the bout’s approximate seven minutes. Pressure and elbows were the main method of attack for Robertson in the opening frame.
Robertson quickly got the fight back to the ground early in the second round. There, she smoothly worked her way into mount, where she rained down ground-and-pound for the TKO.
Gillian Robertson Wins Fourth Straight, Marina Rodriguez Retires At UFC Des Moines
Gillian Robertson is an actual savage!!! That was a beatdown in the end #UFCDesMoines
Gillian Robertson with another career-best performance as she finishes Marina Rodriguez in the second round with ground-and-pound from the top. #UFCDesMoines
Gillian Robertson dominates Marina Rodriguez for the TKO at #UFCDesMoines. Not easy to do. Now 5-1 since moving to strawweight. Impressive stuff. šØš¦
Damn Gillian Robertson with another dominant gnp win. Sheās been on such a nice streak and this was probably her best performance against her toughest opponent. Always love to see her grappling #UFCDesMoines
Gillian Robertson has long been the most exciting woman in the UFC. Itās great to see her finally getting the wins that will give her the notoriety that she deserves. I can see her having a Masvidal like turnaround to her career. #UFCDesMoines
Robertson has now won four straight and six of her last seven, including a 5-1 record since returning to strawweight in 2023. Robertson scored wins over Polyana Viana, Michelle Waterson-Gomez and Luana Pinheiro during 2024. She will most likely have a top-10 ranking come Monday.
The 38-year-old Rodriguez retires with losses in three straight and five of her last six. Her sole win in that span had come against Waterson-Gomez in September 2023, and she entered tonight’s bout off a controversial split decision loss to Iasmin Lucindo at UFC 307.
Rodriguez was awarded a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018, where she defeated Maria de Oliveira Neta. Rodriguez’s UFC run ends with an Octagon record of 7-5-2, with wins over the likes of Yan Xiaonan, Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas, in addition two wins over Waterson-Gomez.
Mackenzie Dern revealed in an exclusive interview with MMA News that she suffered a knee injury before her main event loss to Marina Rodriguez.
Dern went on to lose to Rodriguez in her first career UFC main event at UFC Vegas 39 last October via a unanimous decision. She was unable to deal with Rodriguez’s boxing or get the fight to the ground by using her signature Jiu-Jitsu.
Dern remains one of the top UFC strawweight prospects heading into her 2022 debut against Tecia Torres at UFC 273. However, it was a hard road back to full health following the knee injury before her fight with Rodriguez.
“Yeah, I hurt it on the last sparring before my fight with Marina on Friday [of fight week],” Dern said. “It was more during the fight week, so during fight week it just blew up and it was huge. I couldn’t really do anything, I couldn’t train during fight week, I couldn’t move around too much, I couldn’t put pressure on my knee or anything like that. In the fight, I didn’t feel it or anything like that. Marina did a couple of kicks and it was in the back of my head. She didn’t know about it or anything like that.
“I felt good, I had trained hard and everything like that. But it was a little distraction. All of these things are little distractions and you just gotta learn to block it all out.”
Dern went on to reveal that she underwent knee surgery following the fight with Rodriguez and made a full recovery ahead of this fight camp.
Before the loss to Rodriguez, Dern had won four straight over the likes of Nina Nunes and Virna Jandiroba. She debuted in the UFC back at UFC 222 following successful stints in LFA and Invicta FC.
Dern will look to get back into the strawweight title picture with a win over Torres at UFC 273. Her grappling is arguably the best in the strawweight division and she’s proven to be a matchup nightmare for most contenders.
What is your prediction for Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres?
It appears that UFC strawweight contender Marina Rodriguez did enough to earn a No. 1 contender spot in her win over Yan Xiaonan at UFC 272.
Rodriguez won a closely-contested top-5 matchup against Xiaonan in a back-and-forth war on the feet. Rodriguez struggled with Xiaonan’s speed early in the fight but found a rhythm with her pacing as the bout went on.
Rodriguez has been on a roll in the strawweight division after an impressive 2021. She earned three-straight wins last year including lopsided victories over the likes of Michelle Waterson and Mackenzie Dern.
During his UFC 272 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White said it “makes sense” that Rodriguez would face the winner of Rose Namajunas vs. Carla Esparza.
The promotion has been working on booking the Namajunas/Esparza rematch in 2022. Although it hasn’t been formally announced, it’s widely expected to be the next title fight at 115 pounds.
Rodriguez made her UFC debut back in 2018 following a gruesome knockout of Maria Oliveira on Dana White’s Contender Series. She has yet to face Namajunas in the UFC but lost in a close split decision against Esparza in July 2020.
Namajunas earned her second stint as the strawweight queen by knocking out Zhang Weili at UFC 261. She would follow it up by earning a decision win over Weili in their rematch at UFC 268.
Carla Esparza is a fierce opponent in the Octagon. Even the current strawweight champion, Rose Namajunas, was finished by Esparza when they fought back in 2014.
Similar to Namajunas, Xiaonan felt the loss was a lesson and showed where improvements need to be made.
Carla Esparza and Yan Xiaonan, Photo Credit: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
“The biggest lesson is you have to be ready for a big fight like that. 100% ready. Another lesson is the directionāhow you prepare for the fight. So, we had some problems on that in my last fight camp. So, yeah, everything, I learned a little bit of everything in that fight,” Xiaonan told LowKickMMA.
Most fighters will tell you that preparation for a fight is more important than the fight itself. You have to go into the ring mentally and physically fit enough to defeat your opponent.
A bad day can lead to a bad fight just as well as being undertrained. But losing can also be a humbling experience, and many fighters have come back stronger from it.
This Saturday, Xiaonan will face Brazil’s Marina Rodriguez at UFC 272. They hold spots in the top 5 of the strawweight rankings, and after their match, one will be much closer to the title shot.
What are your thoughts on how Yan Xiaonan reflects on her loss to Carla Esparza?
UFC women’s strawweight Marina Rodriguez has looked back on her main event victory over Mackenzie Dern last year and described her disbelief when she almost submitted the Brazilian jiu-jitsu expert.
Top-five contenders Dern and Rodriguez collided in the UFC Vegas 39 headliner last October at Las Vegas’ Apex facility.
Heading into the contest, the Arizona-born grappling specialist was riding a four-fight win streak after submission victories over Hannah Cifers, Randa Markos, and Nina Nunes, and a decision triumph over Virna Jandiroba. A 2019 defeat to Amanda Ribas represented Dern’s only setback in 12 professional MMA fights.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, had won back-to-back contests since falling to her first loss in the sport, a split decision disappointment at the hands of current #1 contender Carla Esparza.
Despite that, Rodriguez held her own on the ground and managed to survive a heavy submission attack in the second round of their clash. Describing her game plan and ability to deal with her opponent’s offense, the 34-year-old told Drake Riggs she was “ready for everything.”
āFor that fight, we were perfectly ready. We knew what we were going against. We knew her ground game was really really good, but MMA isnāt just ground game, right? So I was calm I knew what was going to come up and when the fight happened I was ready for everything that came.ā
With Dern’s jiu-jitsu pedigree well known, and regarded as arguably the best in the promotion, Rodriguez understandably increased the amount of training she did for the discipline. The Brazilian acknowledged that identifying her opponent’s strong point and preparing for it was her best path to victory.
āIn all my fights, I train a little bit of jiu-jitsu and grappling. For this fight specifically, we already knew that Mackenzie Dernās jiu-jitsu is really, really strong, so we prepared especially for this. I added a little bit more of grappling and jiu-jitsu to my training and thatās it. When I train, I think of my opponent, what are their strong points, and I get ready for that.”
More than just surviving on the ground in the second round, Rodriguez actually got off some offense of her own in the form of a D’Arce choke attempt. While Dern managed to slip out of the hold, Rodriguez admitted she felt like she had a chance of submitting the grappling ace, a prospect that left her in disbelief.
āI thought exactly, āIām going to finish Mackenzie duringāis this real? Sheās so good on the ground she was able to get out of the position. And I thought afterwards, āOkay, I wonāt be able to get the finish in this fight, but next fight Iāll get it.ā
Rodriguez Will Look To Secure A Title Shot With Win Over Xiaonan
Before coming up against the division’s inaugural champion Esparza last May, Xiaonan boasted a perfect 6-0 UFC record, which included wins against Angela Hill, Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and ClĆ”udia Gadelha.
Top-5 strawweights Marina Rodriguez and Yan Xiaonan are scheduled to compete on March 5.
As first reported by MMA DNA, this high-level strawweight bout between Rodriguez and Xiaonan will take place at UFC 272. There is currently no main event announced for this card, but the location has been determined to be the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Marina Rodriguez may very well be one fight away from securing a title shot seeing as how she is currently riding a three-fight win streak, with wins over Amanda Ribas, Michelle Waterson, and Mackenzie Dern. Her last victory over Dern took home Fight of the Night.
To further support the notion of Rodriguez potentially earning a title shot with a win here is the fact that the only two fighters currently ahead of her in the rankings are Carla Esparza (#2) and Zhang Weili (#1). Esparza is currently next in line to challenge Rose Namajunas, while Zhang has already lost twice to Namajunas this year.
Yan Xiaonan was in a familiar position heading into the year. She was undefeated in the UFC and unbeaten in her last 12 fights. However, she would come up short against the grappling-heavy Carla Esparza at UFC Fight Night: Garbrandt vs. Font.
Now, Xiaonan will have an opportunity to put on a show in this high-level striking affair against fellow trader Marina Rodriguez. With a big win here, the #4-ranked Xiaonan may very well still be live for a title-shot opportunity herself.
With the addition of this bout, the current lineup for UFC 272 is as follows:
Marina Rodriguez vs. Yan Xiaonan
Edson Barboza vs. Bryce Mitchell
Jessica Eye vs. Manon Fiorot
Maryna Moroz vs. Mariya Agapova
MichaÅ OleksiejczukĀ vs.Ā Dustin Jacoby
Tim ElliottĀ vs. Tagir Ulanbeko
Who is your pick to win this crucial strawweight bout between Marina Rodriguez and Yan Xiaonan?
