Athletes
Pete Rodriguez: Brick By Brick
It's Been A Strange UFC Journey Thus Far For Pete Rodriguez, But He's Happy To Be Back In Action At UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs Imavov.
Despite a run in the welterweight division that garnered him a 5-1 pro record, including a 93-second knockout of Mike Jackson in October of 2022, Pete Rodriguez – like so many fighters – wondered about the unknown.
So he took a fight at lightweight against Natan Levy last spring. It wasn’t pretty as Rodriguez tried to make weight, and after two scheduled bouts were scrapped, the Arizonan made his way back to 170 pounds for a Saturday matchup with Themba Gorimbo.
“I never fought at 155 before, and I'm pretty small, believe it or not, for 170 because all those dudes are 6-3, 6-2 and they're jacked,” Rodriguez said. “And I’ve never seen my body at 155. So at my weight and 5-9, I felt like I was going to be the bigger fighter at 155 and just be super cut at 155.”
It wasn’t meant to be, at least not now, as the experts at the UFC Performance Institute let Rodriguez know that he will need a lot of time to acclimate his body to that weight, and 27-year-old prospects on the rise can’t afford that kind of time, so here he is, ready to pick up where he left off when he halted Jackson at the APEX.
“They (the UFC PI) measured my body density and my body structure and everything like that that. They tell you if you’re going to be able to make 155 healthy or not, or just stay at 170 and build muscle. They told me it'll take a while for me to get to 155 healthy and to stay around there. And then you’re basically going to have to diet year-round and they said it's going to be really unenjoyable because this is my body structure.”
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Yeah, doesn’t sound like fun, especially in a business where you’re fighting in order to get ready for a fight, but Rodriguez doesn’t mind that part.
“I'm excited to get back and I'm ready for it,” he said. “I’m just keeping my head down the whole time and we're going to come out and show the world.”
It’s been a while, but at least the last impression fans have of Rodriguez is a good one, as the longtime jiu-jitsu practitioner continued to show off the striking that has ended all five of his pro MMA wins by first-round knockout.
“I know I have that power and I know once I'm in the pocket, I'm money,” he said. “And when I get inside their range, then I'm good with my jiu-jitsu and wrestling. So I’m putting everything together.”
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But having that power in your back pocket is nice. Rodriguez agrees, but it wasn’t something that was immediately evident.
“I didn't know myself at all,” he laughs. “I was never even thinking about fighting. Even in high school, it was more just to keep me active. I started doing jiu-jitsu when I was eight or nine and I kind of had to leave it behind because I was always doing the year-round football and baseball thing. And then right after high school I kind of picked it back up, but then my older brother was fighting, as well, and he was like, ‘Hey, you should try it.’”
What could go wrong, thought Rodriguez, and he was in. Two months later, he had himself a fight, which he won by knockout in less than three minutes.
Pete Rodriguez Lands Vicious Knee To Finish Jackson In Round 1 | UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs Araújo
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Pete Rodriguez Lands Vicious Knee To Finish Jackson In Round 1 | UFC Fight Night: Grasso vs Araújo
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“I didn't have any stand up - no kicking, nothing,” he said. “It was just my jiu-jitsu that I had to rely on. And after I felt that taste of the knockout, I was like, yeah, I can do this. I really believed in myself, I pushed every fight, and I knew I wasn't going to get to the highest point immediately. So I had to take it one step at a time. How you build a house is brick by brick, and every fight just got me that much closer.”
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Nine amateur fights led to a pro debut in 2020, and after four wins on the regional scene, he got the call to the big show. Rodriguez lost his UFC debut to Jack Della Maddalena in January of 2022, but after getting back on track against Jackson, he’s got the opportunity to get his second Octagon victory against Gorimbo. His two years in the UFC may not have played out the way he wanted them to, but he feels like the New Year has given him a fresh start that he plans on taking advantage of.
“It's nice to be here, but I'm not happy in myself,” Rodriguez said. “I know I can push myself harder and I know my time's going to come. The sacrifices pay off and God gave me all the tools, but he is not going to do it for me. I'm the one that's supposed to put those tools to work, and if I don't, then nothing's going to play out. So as long as I put my tools to work, I know everything's going to work out and this fight's going to boost me. I see it as an opportunity to get my way back in there.”
UFC Fight Night: Dolidze vs Imavov took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 3, 2024. See the final Main Card & Prelim Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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