Isaac Dulgarian (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is gearing up to fight Christian Rodriguez (10-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on March 16.
Dulgarian said Rodriguez is a “tough fighter” who’s good everywhere and doesn’t have a lot of holes in his game.
“But I feel like I’m better in all the positions he’s good at,” Dulgarian told MMASucka. “You haven’t seen a lot of my striking, but I think it’s something that’s going to get drawn out this fight. I think in the grappling realm, he just hasn’t felt pressure like mine. I think the closest fight he’s had to a grappler is [Jonathan Pearce]. JSP is more of a backtaker/catch-wrestler and I’m more of an MMA grappler.”
Pearce handed Rodriguez the lone loss of his career to date. Rodriguez has since rattled off three straight wins over Joshua Weems, highly-touted bantamweight prospect Raul Rosas Jr. and another top prospect in Cameron Saiiman. After missing the bantamweight limit twice in a row, however, Rodriguez is moving back up to featherweight to take on Dulgarian, who burst onto the UFC scene with a ground and pound win over Francis Marshall.
Dulgarian said Rodriguez is “possibly” the toughest test of his MMA career yet.
“I think Francis [Marshall] was…
