Jeremy Stephens Calls for Rematch with Yair Rodriguez: ‘Let’s Run It Back Motherf---er’

"Let's run it back, m----- f-----."@LiLHeathenMMA wants an immediate rematch with Yair Rodriguez (via @KarynBryant) pic.twitter.com/M4yF1sbAl3

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) September 22, 2019

Jeremy Stephens didn’t have time to show off all the altitude training he did in preparation for his bout with Yair Rodriguez in Mexico City on Saturday night.

Instead, the featherweight contest at UFC Fight Night 159 ended prematurely when Rodriguez inadvertently raked his opponent’s eye. Stephens was unable to open his eye following the foul, and the bout was ruled a no contest after just 15 seconds.

In a video posted by ESPN, Stephens updated his condition, revealing that he suffered a “deep scratch and a “deep bruise” as a result of the poke. “Lil Heathen” seems to be confident that he will be healed relatively quickly, and he already wants a rematch with the Mexican star.

“Yair, you think I’m faking, bro – you’re the one that poked me in the eye,” he said. “Let’s run it back [in] four or five weeks, two weeks, whatever. I’ll be ready.”

Stephens is likely taking issue with some of the comments Rodriguez made on the ESPN+ post-fight show. While “El Pantera” said he would give Stephens the “benefit of the doubt,” he also claimed that he fought a previous bout with one eye closed and did not reveal his condition to cageside doctors.

“You always have to give the benefit of the doubt,” Rodriguez said. “I can’t imagine how it feels to have an eye poke. But I know how it feels to have an eye closed, and I still fought. But that’s up to me. But even with that, I told them I could see. I was ready to go in the third round because I said, ‘Yes, I could see,’ even if it was a lie. But everybody is different in this sport. The only one that has to live with that is Jeremy Stephens. I understand. I’m giving him completely the benefit of the doubt.”

Shortly after the UFC Fight Night 159 headliner was called, fans at Mexico City Arena began hurling debris at Stephens as he was escorted from the Octagon and out of the arena.

Rodriguez, who wasn’t thrilled with the idea of facing an opponent below him in the rankings in the first place, might not be as welcoming to the idea of a rematch with Stephens.

“I just want to wait and see what’s going to happen after this,” he said on ESPN+. “I have to go and talk to the UFC, to my team and see what is going to happen. I don’t know. As I said before the fight, Jeremy Stephens is a fight that I didn’t want to take because he was behind me in the rankings, because of his toughness or whatever. I’m going to have to talk to my team and see what they’re thinking and what the UFC is thinking.”