Julian Erosa (30-11 MMA, 8-7 UFC) secured his second guillotine submission win in a row, this time at the expense of Christian Rodriguez (11-2 MMA, 4-2 UFC).
Erosa said he feels good about the win.
“It’s only been 10 days, but it feels like a lot longer,” Erosa told MMASucka on Tuesday. “Sometimes after a win, it feels like that. It was a first-round guillotine against a tough opponent. ‘CeeRod’ is someone they were building up quite a bit, so it was nice to get up in his face. I felt like I won basically every exchange in that fight. He had a couple of moments but I think I dominated that first round all the way up until the guillotine.”
Erosa and Rodriguez traded fisticuffs for much of the first round until he took Rodriguez’s back late in the first round. Erosa recalls seeing 40 seconds on the clock when Rodriguez escaped and then jumped on top of Erosa with about 30 seconds left in the opening frame. Erosa at that point was thinking ahead to the second round.
“I was like, ‘All right, just don’t let him land any big shots. If I could pull him down into my guard and stall if I need to,'” he said. “That’s what I was kind of looking for, but he dove his head so deep into my left side, which is my favorite side for the guillotine, so I said, ‘You know what, I’ll give this a shot, and worst comes to worst, the round will be over.’ I grabbed up the guillotine, locked in the finger-four from the bottom, and I think that’s what got him in the sense that a lot of guys, they don’t do that from the bottom. When I locked that finger-four from the bottom, it’s basically a guillotine that’s pretty inescapable. It gets tight really quick. I feel like I made him panic tap. He wasn’t out. There were only 10 seconds left. He could’ve probably just held on but decided to tap. I’ve done that a lot in practice, so I figured even with short time left, I figured I could still possibly get the submission. In my mind, I was already thinking about the second round.”
The finish officially came 4:49 into the first round.
Erosa had been thinking about wanting to fight the winner of Cub Swanson and Andre Fili, who fought at UFC 303 on June 29. Fili won a split decision. Erosa said Fili just moved to Las Vegas and is anticipating him becoming a teammate, however.
“So that would be kind of a weird situation to be in to fight. I wouldn’t mind fighting Cub Swanson,” Erosa said. “It was a close fight, and some people thought Cub might’ve won it. Even though he lost against Andre Fili, I don’t necessarily think it’s a knock on his resume. I think me and Cub Swanson would go out there and have a Fight of the Night-type candidate. Those are the fights I’m looking for, and obviously, he’s a legend of the sport. I remember watching him in WEC before I started training, so it would be fun to get in there and mix up with him.”
Fighting a legend in Swanson would be a change of pace for Erosa, who has become accustomed to fighting prospects and up-and-comers. Some of Erosa’s recent wins came over the likes of Sean Woodson, who was undefeated at the time, Nate Landwehr, Charles Jourdain, Hakeem Dawodu and Ricardo Ramos.
Erosa said being a prospect slayer is a “good reputation to have.”
“I think I do really well against those types of guys. Guys who hover around the middle of the pack and guys who think they are prospects,” he said. “I think I have the experience and ability to overcome them in a fight mentally, as well as physically.”
In terms of skill, Erosa said Rodriguez lines up “pretty well” against other prospects he’s beaten.
“He only had one loss, never been finished. He’s kind of like Jourdain. Jourdain had never been finished and I got him out of there, as well, with a submission. Even getting Sean Woodson with a submission. I think I have the ability to get people in uncomfortable positions and situations in fights and capitalize on them. Usually toward the end of the fight. With Christian, I was able to get him out of there in the first, which was nice. It’s good to have a reputation. Some guys, even a guy like Christian, I think acted like he was confident, but I really do feel like he was probably fearful of me, more than all the other opponents.”
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