Teammate claims Yair Rodriguez is moving up to lightweight

Yair
Rodriguez is apparently moving up to lightweight. 

Rodriguez (20-5) and Belal
Muhammad are teammates at Valle Flow Striking in Bensenville,
Illinois. Muhammad recently claimed that “El Pantera” is moving up
to lightweight from featherweight. 

Rafael
Fiziev knocked out Manuel
Torres via a highlight-reel spinning back kick in front of his
home fans at UFC Baku last weekend. Muhammad subsequently suggested
a matchup between Fiziev and Rodriguez. When a fan noted that
Rodriguez is a featherweight, Muhammad
Said that the Mexican is moving up to lightweight. Muhammad
also revealed that Rodriguez underwent surgery on his wrist after
his last win over Patricio
Freire. 

Fizev and Yair would be fire—
Belal
Muhammad (@bullyb170)
June 27, 2026

‘

Shifting Gears and Injury Recovery

Rodriguez has had an illustrious career at featherweight, only
losing to top talents like Frankie
Edgar, Max
Holloway, Alexander
Volkanovski and Brian
Ortega. Rodriguez won the interim featherweight title against
Josh
Emmett in 2023 but came up short in the bid for the undisputed
title against Volkanovski. 

Nah Yair is moving up— Belal
Muhammad (@bullyb170)
June 27, 2026

He had surgery on his wrist after
the pitbul fight— Belal
Muhammad (@bullyb170)
June 27, 2026