Fight Study - Frankie Edgar vs. Yair Rodriguez - UFC 211

this is a good matchup in both presents of stylistic challenges for each other that I'm looking forward to Gaia Rodriguez is tall he flights along using a lot of kicks he stands up 5 foot 11 inches in the last time Frankie fought someone that tall in recent memory was against Charles Oliveira who stands at 510 that'll be the biggest factor for Frankie I think being able to get inside the reach avoid taking damage from kicks and throw hands on the inside or try for takedown considering Yair is mobile it'll probably benefit him to attack with leg kicks to Cal Frankie was able to hit Oliveira was using a lot of fakes and Saints level changes and 3 punch combinations where he'd hit the body and end with the shot to the head but that didn't stop Oliveira from successfully landing kicks and knees Oliveira really doesn't encompass much of Yair Rodriguez's style other than the body type because he has a tighter more tie stands where the eye ear stands much wider inside on at times I think Frankie's fight with Benson Henderson is probably the best insight we can really get into what a fight with the eye ear might look like especially their rematch Henderson was able to use plenty of leg kicks specifically to Frankie's cap to keep him out of boxing range and upset his stance whenever Frankie did get in a range Henderson would attack with a check knee to the body and this was repeated for the entirety of the fight without much adjustments Frankie did line his shots here and there even it's knockdown I think in round 1 or 2 but Henderson kept that fight at his range for 25 minutes he stood side on him through axe kick body kicks low line side kick essentially a series of Taekwondo techniques to keep Frankie at range in the first fight Henderson through many more kicks to the body that Frankie was able to catch consistently and that's one of his best assets look at any number of Edgar's fights and you'll see how a debt tee is at catching his opponents kick and attacking with his own or turning them into takedown however in the rematch Henderson chose to keep body kicks at a minimum and either go low or high with them Edgar lost both fights by decision or I think Frankie will have most success aside from perhaps throwing like ticks is pressuring Yair which really won't be an easy task many opponents have tried to do this and it seems to work but only temporarily I'm sure Edgar will be able to secure takedown but I question to what extent there'll be a effective not only May yeah years sighs be a factor and Edgar's ability to hold him down or maintain top control but Yair is very crafty off his back perhaps Frankie can chain takedowns together and keep the I are constantly working to defend for a significant amount of the fight and take a decision victory it's also possible Frankie is able to catch higher in the pocket when he flies in with knees or punches that's how Yair was knocked out in this third professional fight in my opinion the pure volume of Yair is going to be a big factor Edgar has to find a way to shut down his offense right away because I believe spending too much time on the outside will ultimately fail the constant attack with kicks is going to give Frankie issues as he tries to close the distance the most difficult aspect of the spite to forecast in my opinion is how well Yair will do when he's pressed against the fence defending takedowns and how well Frankie will do being able to maintain top control that's the issue with analyzing young fighters because we don't entirely know where their deficiencies lie just yet either a huge hole will be exposed and exploited or they rise above and beyond our expectations similar to what Cody gar Brandt did two dominant crews braggy Edgar has never been stopped in the Octagon only has five losses out of 27 fights all being by decision in mostly five-round fight he also fought to a draw with grey Maynard it's very risky to bet against Frankie Edgar in this fight and perhaps it's not worth a bet at all now from my perspective I'm leaning yair Rodriguez to pick up a decision one with high volume and activity and to be honest I've even felt maybe a submission as possible given how crafty can be we've seen Frankie cotton guillotines as well from multiple fighters with Charles Oliveira being the most recent so at this stage I'm leanin Rodriguez but obviously that can change due to any number of factors as fight week rolls on I always post my pics on Twitter so make sure to follow me at rapid MMA I'd also like to shout out Shawn Higgins for hitting me up on Twitter and ask him for me to create a USC fantasy pick'em League so I did just that anyone can join you just have to sign into your account click the link in the description and it will add you automatically that way you guys can smoke me in pics and everybody can see how they stack up against each other thanks for watching [Music] you [Music]