Christian Rodriguez vs Austin Bashi at UFC Fight Night 249 | Preview & Prediction
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We have a featherweight bout on the main card at UFC Fight Night 249 as Christian Rodriguez meets Austin Bashi at the Apex
Christian Rodriguez vs Austin Bashi Facts
When is UFC Fight Night 249? UK – the preliminary card starts at 9:00pm on Saturday 11th January 2024, followed by the main card at 12:00am (Sunday) / USA – 4:00pm/7:00pm ET (Saturday) and 1:00pm/4:00pm PT (Saturday)
Where is UFC Fight Night 249? UFC Apex, Las Vegas, USA
Where can I get tickets for UFC Fight Night 249? Click here for the latest ticket information for UFC Fight Night 249
What TV channel is UFC Fight Night 249 on? UK – TNT Sports / USA – ESPN+
Where can I stream UFC Fight Night 249? UK – TNT Sports subscribers can stream the event online via the TNT Sports website and discovery+ / USA – ESPN+ & UFC Fight Pass
For viewers in the United States, UFC Fight Night 249 will be shown live on ESPN+ and you can sign up for access as part of a Disney Bundle here!
What time are Christian Rodriguez and Austin Bashi expected to walk out? Sunday 12th January, 2025, 1:15am UK / Saturday 11th January, 8:15pm US ET / 5:15pm US PT
UFC Fight Night 249 Main Card Event
Mackenzie Dern vs Amanda Ribas (Women’s Strawweight)
Santiago Ponzinibbio vs Carlston Harris (Welterweight)
Cesar Almeida vs Abdul Razak Alhassan (Middleweight)
Chris Curtis vs Roman Kopylov (Middleweight)
Christian Rodriguez vs Austin Bashi (Featherweight)
Punahele Soriano vs Uros Medic (Welterweight)
UFC Fight Night 249 Prelims
Jose Johnson vs Felipe Bunes (Flyweight)
Marco Tulio vs Ihor Potieria (Middleweight)
Thiago Moises vs Trey Ogden (Lightweight)
Ernesta Kareckaitė vs Nicolle Caliari (Women’s Flyweight)
Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs Bruno Lopes (Light Heavyweight)
Fatima Kline vs Victoria Dudakova (Women’s Strawweight)
Preston Parsons vs Jacobe Smith (Welterweight)
Nurullo Aliev vs Joe Solecki (Lightweight)
Christian Rodriguez: CeeRod coming off just second loss of MMA career
Christian Rodriguez (11-2) is coming off just the second loss of his professional MMA career as he suffered a submission defeat to Julian Erosa last July. Before that he was on a four-fight win streak in the UFC so the 27-year-old American will now look to get back to winning ways and build another run.
Austin Bashi: Unbeaten prodigy one to watch on main card
Austin Bashi (13-0) is a fighter with a fair bit of hype around him coming into UFC Fight Night 249. The 23-year-old from Michigan has won all 13 of his MMA bouts and after coming through Dana White’s Contender Series in September, he now makes his UFC debut. It will be fascinating to see if he can live up to the hype.
Christian Rodriguez vs Austin Bashi Prediction
As is so often the case, there are a number of unbeaten fighters on this UFC card who are making their debut or are early in the careers. Austin Bashi is one of those and has plenty of hype around him as potentially being the real deal.
The 23-year-old has 13 wins with three knockouts, five submissions and five wins by decision as he is incredibly well-rounded. For a featherweight, he packs a lot into his 145lbs and he is incredibly strong also.
He meets Christian Rodriguez who will relish the opportunity to dampen that hype just as he did with Raul Rosas Jr a couple of fights ago. Rodriguez is seasoned and has been matched against Bashi to really test the youngster’s credentials.
And that is exactly what he will do. Rodriguez is pretty powerful himself and it will be interesting to see who has the edge in wrestling. Bashi could well find that Rodriguez is well-matched for him here.
We can see this being something of stalemate and this one is going to the scorecards. If pushed, we would lean towards Rodriguez frustrating Bashi and inflicting his first loss, but our pick is on it going the distance.
Prediction: Fight to go the distance
