26-year-old Kleydson Rodrigues believes he is going to be one of the next great Brazilian champions. In his seven-year fight career, he’s amassed an impressive record of 7-1, with three wins by KO and two by submission.
Rodrigues is young and still evolving as a fighter. It just so happens that he’ll now be doing it on the world’s biggest stage, as he makes his UFC debut against CJ Vergara in front of a packed house in Phoenix, Arizona, this Saturday.
“I started MMA at 17, and at 18 I had my first fight. Thank God I’m here, doing my debut in the biggest organization in the world, the UFC,” said an excited Rodrigues. “I started doing capoeira as a kid. Then I started to work out at the gym, transitioned to jiu-jitsu and started training professional MMA.”
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After a strong performance on Dana White’s Contender Series, Rodrigues had impressed the boss enough to earn a spot in the flyweight division.
But winning the bout over Santo Curatolo by unanimous decision wasn’t necessarily the performance that the Brazilian had envisioned for himself when attempting to break into the UFC.
A win in the Octagon is nothing to discredit, though Rodrigues will always be his biggest critic, and that’s what makes him a fighter to watch.
