Back from the Brink, Ray Rodriguez Thanks Cowboy Cerrone for His Career’s Second Life
- from MMA Weekly on May 08, 2016
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Back from the Brink, Ray Rodriguez Thanks Cowboy Cerrone for His Career’s Second Life
Just over a year ago, it would appear that the career of featherweight veteran Ray Rodriguez was coming to a close.
Losses in three of four fights had Rodriguez believing his time in the sport was over, but he was able to rebound and now finds himself on a four-fight winning streak.
“To tell you the truth, before these last four fights, I had retired,” Rodriguez told MMAWeekly.com. “I was on a two-fight losing streak and I was just going through a lot of things personally, and wanted to take time away from things.”
What got Rodriguez to turn the corner was time spent at Greg Jackson’s gym in New Mexico. Getting a chance to work alongside UFC veterans like Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Leonard Garcia helped give him a new perspective.
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“I was having a hard time juggling my time being a father and going to school and training full-time,” said Rodriguez. “I saw the way they trained, and how Cowboy was really good at being able to separate his time.
“I finally came to the realization that if I’m going to fight full-time, I’m going to need to be able to live my life too. I’m a full-time student and I’m a father. So I’m able to manage my time a lot better, and once I learned to start doing that properly, the wins started racking up.”
Rodriguez (9-4) will look to keep his winning streak going when he faces Art Arciniega (14-6) in a 145-pound main card bout at Combate Americas 5 on Monday in Los Angeles.
“One thing I found out about Art is that he really hasn’t evolved much,” Rodriguez said. “He’s fought for a really long time and he’s tough, and you can’t take that away from him, but I don’t think he’s evolved with the sport.
“I consider myself part of the new generation of MMA, of more dynamic fighters. I’m stylistically a really bad match-up for him. I feel I can beat him anywhere. If we stand and bang, I feel I have a huge advantage, and if we go to the ground, I have a good advantage as well.”
When Combate held a recent press conference to discuss their new TV deals, Rodriguez was one of the fighters they featured, even though he had yet to fight for them. Being included in their rollout was a big thing for Rodriguez.
“If anyone has seen my fights, they know I’m explosive, and I think the guys at Combate know that,” said Rodriguez. “It’s amazing to have someone backing you like that, even if you’ve never fought on their banner yet.”
Rodriguez feels a strong performance on May 9 could help lead him to being crowned as one of Combate’s first champions in the not too distant future.
“This is my first fight with Combate, but I promise you it will be a statement,” Rodriguez said. “It will put me in position for potentially a title shot or a number one contender’s shot. Definitely I see gold in my future in Combate.”
