MIAMI – If all goes well, Yair Rodriguez can see himself challenging for the UFC featherweight title in a few months. Rodriguez (19-5 MMA, 10-4 UFC), who returns to the cage this Saturday on the main card of UFC 314 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+) at Kaseya Center, has visualized his path to the featherweight title: first, defeating former Bellator champion Patricio Freire (36-7 MMA, 0-0 UFC), and then hope Diego Lopes beats Alexander Volkanovski for the vacant belt in the main event of the card. Should those two things happen, Rodriguez can see the UFC pairing him against Lopes at Noche UFC in Guadalajara on Sept. 13. “My visualization goes towards that,” Rodriguez said at Wednesday’s UFC 314 media day. “I’m obviously not overlooking this fight with ‘Pitbull,’ but you have to be prepared for whatever, and you have to visualize what you want to happen and create it, so that’s what I’ve been doing.
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