Julian Erosa explains why he believes he will submit Christian Rodriguez by D’arce choke at UFC Denver

Julian Erosa wanted to return by August, before his sister gets married, and he got his wish.

Erosa is coming off a submission win over Ricardo Ramos in March and will now return on Saturday night at UFC Denver against Christian Rodriguez. For Erosa, he said he told the UFC it didn’t matter who was next, as instead, all he cared about was getting a fight book before August.

“I got offered someone else, but they ended up declining and they gave me Christian after that. I was happy that someone was willing to step up on that date. It didn’t matter who it was, it was just more about the timelines. It was just about getting a fight before August,” Erosa said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com.

Once Erosa was offered Rodriguez, he had to look him up as he admits he wasn’t too familiar with his name. But once he searched him up, he said he knew who he was and remembered watching his fight with Raul Rosas.

“Not familiar at all. I didn’t know who he was by name, but I did watch the Raul Rosas fight against him because I have trained with Raul a handful of times. It didn’t matter to me, whoever they gave me I was going to say yes to,” Erosa added.

Entering the fight at UFC Denver, Julian Erosa is the betting underdog, but he isn’t paying attention to any of that.

Instead, Erosa believes the way Christian Rodriguez fights is a good matchup for him. Erosa says how Rodrigeuz scrambles and gives up his back will allow him to sink in a D’arce choke.

“I don’t think he is a strong individual, he’s a guy who flows with things. Kind of me, I’m not trying to grab you and put you down, I’m trying to grab things in transition… I do think I can catch a D’arce choke on him, he does like to give his back up to stand up, and if people do that, that is my perfect spot to get a D’arce. I’ll have the advantage in that area if it does go to the ground,” Erosa said.

Should Erosa get his hand raised, he says he isn’t sure what is next for him. Instead, all he cares about is winning and getting both of his paychecks.

“Man, it keeps my job. Winning gets my pay cheques and another fight. I have a three-month-old so I’m trying to take care of my fight. I just think about the fight and not what happens afterward,” Erosa concluded.