What a night! Monster Energy congratulates Daniel Rodriguez on defeating Li Jingliang at UFC 279 in Las Vegas, Nevada. In Saturday night’s main card fight contested at 180-pounds catchweight, the 35-year-old from Alhambra, California went the distance against his Chinese opponent for three rounds to earn a split decision victory (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
UFC 279: Diaz vs. Ferguson was contested in front of a high-energy crowd of 20,000 spectators inside the sold-out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. VIP guests witnessing the fight included actor Mark Wahlberg, musician Tommy Lee as well as UFC legends past and present. Prelims were broadcast live on ESPN+ and the main card aired on ESPN pay-per-view.
In a historic upset, the entire main card for UFC 279 was reshuffled within 24 hours before the event. Initially, the headline fight was to feature California’s Nate Diaz against Sweden’s Khamzat Chimaev. But when Chimaev missed weight by several pounds, the headliner saw Diaz squaring off against Monster Energy’s Tony Ferguson.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez no longer faced American Kevin Holland in a 180-pound catchweight bout, but instead was faced with Chinese martial artist Li Jingliang in a catchweight bout on short notice. Jingliang was initially slated to fight Monster Energy’s Ferguson.
Monster Energy’s Rodriguez (17-2) came to Las Vegas on a three-fight victory streak, having most recently defeated Kevin Lee at a UFC Fight Night in August 2021. After dealing with injury, the purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was ready to return to the Octagon and score another win, even if it meant dealing with an unexpected opponent in this last-minute matchup.
His opponent, 34-year-old Li Jingliang (19-8) from Tacheng Prefecture, China had most recently defeated Russian Muslim Salikhov at a UFC Fight Night in July 2022.
In Round 1, Rodriguez pressured Jingliang against the cage with aggressive jabs that continued to land with force. Jingliang fired back with body kicks but without visibly damaging or slowing down Rodriguez. The second round saw both fighters aiming to land low kicks from the distance, while Jingliang connected a hard right hand that shook Rodriguez.
In the third round, Rodriguez returned to turning up the pressure with stiff jabs, as Jingliang tried to avoid damage by switching stances and keeping his distance. Ultimately, the judges saw Rodriguez landing the most significant shots and named him the winner by split decision after three rounds (29-28, 28-29, 29-28).
“It was a close fight, a really close fight. I thought I did more in the later rounds and I picked up the pace a little bit more. And yeah, I did what I had to do to win the fight,” said Monster Energy’s Rodriguez upon winning the man card fight at UFC 279, adding: “This is my second fight taken on 24 hours’ notice. In a situation like that, there really is no preparation.”
Saturday night’s victory at UFC 279 brings Rodriguez’ professional MMA record to 17 wins. His UFC record stands at 6-1 with his only loss a three-round decision against Nicolas Dalby. The native of Los Angeles, California has been competing in mixed martial arts since his 20s and made his UFC promotional debut at UFC Fight Night 167 in February 2020.
Daniel Rodriguez counts amongst Monster Energy’s elite UFC athletes along with Kamaru Usman, Jon “Bones” Jones, Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone, Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal, Chris “The All American” Weidman, Rose Namajunas, Tony Ferguson, Marlon Vera, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, Maycee “The Future” Barber, Paulo “The Eraser” Costa, Stipe “Stone Cold” Miocic, Michael Chandler, Justin Gaethje, Jessica-Rose Clark, Valentina Shevchenko, Sean “Sugar” O’Malley, Brandon Moreno, and Giga “Ninja” Chikadze.
For more on Monster Energy’s MMA athletes visit www.monsterenergy.com. Follow Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
