"It was shaping up to be a good fight" - Josh Thomson shares thoughts on the anticlimactic ending in Brian Ortega vs. Yair Rodriguez clash
Josh Thomson was among the many fans and pundits bummed out after the UFC Long Island main event last weekend.
Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez clashed in what seemed to be shaping up to be a highly exciting featherweight title eliminator. However, it was derailed when a shoulder injury to Ortega halted things.
Thomson covered many topics in a recent episode of his show Weighing In with 'Big' John McCarthy. Josh Thomson and John McCarthy got into Volkanovski's rumored pursuit of a 155 pound title in the future, a full UFC Long Island event breakdown, and more.
In regards to the finish of Rodriguez versus Ortega, Josh Thomson said:
"It's very unfortunate what happened. Oh, man. It was shaping up to be a good fight though. What I took away from that is that Yair is fast. He was fast, he was touching him. He was landing some clean hard shots...It was a significant difference."
Watch the video below:
Rodriguez has improved to 14-3 overall in his mixed martial arts career and seems poised to secure a title fight next. 'El Pantera' has now secured significant UFC wins over Ortega, Jeremy Stephens, 'Korean Zombie', BJ Penn, Andre Fili, and Dan Hooker.
Ortega fell to 15-3 overall as a mixed martial artist following this weekend's bout. 'T-City' has previously notched meaningful victories against 'Korean Zombie', Frankie Edgar, Cub Swanson, Renato Moicano, and Clay Guida.
Josh Thomson on UFC Long Island
Thomson also took to his personal Twitter to express his appreciation for Gilbert Burns' actions after Herbert Burns tasted defeat.
Herbert lost to Bill Algeo in the second stanza via exhaustion from damage. His brother Gilbert was there to carry him through a tough moment, literally and figuratively.
UFC on ABC 3 brought the action to the New York state crowd across several clashes. Thomson and McCarthy spoke very highly about Matt Schnell versus Su Mudaerji. They spoked about how that was one of those high octane fights where both men left pieces of themselves in the cage.
A similar sentiment was extended to Shane Burgos versus Charles Jourdain. Burgos versus Jourdain was another exciting clash, with Burgos getting the majority decision win.