Yair “El Pantera”Rodriguez

Yair Rodriguez is a Mexican mixed martial artist known as “El Pantera” who competes in the UFC featherweight division. Born October 6, 1992, in Hidalgo del Parral, Mexico, he began martial-arts training through taekwondo and is listed by the UFC as a taekwondo black belt. Rodriguez turned professional in 2011 and joined Team Velasquez for the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America. He won that season’s featherweight tournament by defeating Leonardo Morales at UFC 180 on November 15, 2014, which also marked his Octagon debut.

Rodriguez has built his reputation around varied, creative kicking attacks, including spinning and jumping techniques, while also having submission tools such as the triangle choke. His major championship milestone came at UFC 284 on February 11, 2023, when he submitted Josh Emmett to win the interim UFC featherweight title. He later faced Alexander Volkanovski in a title-unification bout at UFC 290. As of September 14, 2026, the UFC lists Rodriguez as an active featherweight; his most recently listed UFC appearance was a unanimous-decision victory over Patricio Freire at UFC 314 on April 12, 2025.