Rodriguez Is a Contender, and Tate Is a Gatekeeper (Patreon)

By Sam

Yair Rodriguez didn't win the wrong way. He legitimately beat Brian Ortega. He lit Ortega up on the feet, then when he was taken down, put Ortega in an armbar, injured his arm, and Ortega stopped fighting and told the referee he was done. That's pretty clear-cut.

Rodriguez doesn't have a style you'd teach to fighters, but it's also a style you can't teach. It's something only he can do. And though he doesn't have classic defense or offensive, it doesn't matter because he knows what he's doing, and he does it well. He makes a good case for being the next challenger to Alexander Volkanovski, along with Josh Emmett.

On the other hand, former champion and perennial contender Miesha Tate lost a lop-sided fight to Lauren Murphy. Murphy is actually older than Tate but has fewer miles on her body (fights, rounds, weight cuts, and years of sparring). Murphy started training later in life and had all the physical tools to be one of the best, but it took her a long time to put it together. For Tate, she started early, put a lot of miles on her body, had early success and title fights, and now it's all showing. Her reaction time has dramatically slowed, she can't wrestle like she used to, and her punches no longer have any pop in them. However, she's still as durable as ever, which only hurts her at this point. Her only win in her last five fights was against Marion Reneau, who's now retired. She's probably still good enough to be in the UFC, but she may only get fights against rankers because of her name. I don't know if she can beat any of them.

Michelle Waterson-Gomez is in a similar situation where she's now one in her last five. Because of her mix of karate, wrestling, and volume, she's always a tough puzzle to solve. But what makes her good is also what limits her. She fights from a karate range, except her reach is too short to use that range effectively. She's like Mike Tyson trying to fight like Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson. She adapted to that by adding wrestling, but her wrestling isn't that great, and her karate range makes her shoot from too far out. She's been training in boxing and muay Thai for years, but she's still not comfortable at that range. As a fighter, she is who she is.

Not every fighter will become a crafty veteran. Much of that is out of their control and about the depth of their division. It also means accepting that they're not looking for finishes or domination. They're just trying to patiently win rounds and frustrate their opponents. It also means taking favorable match-ups and no longer constantly hunting the title. It requires a lot of growth as a fighter but also patience from the UFC. So don't count on it.