One fighter will look to put past controversy behind her by earning back-to-back wins on Saturday night.
UFC Vegas 108 has gone through some changes ahead of the Octagon’s return to the Apex in Las Vegas on August 2.
Tatsuro Taira will now face Hyun Sung Park in the main event after Amir Albazi withdrew from the flyweight matchup.
The full card is now hopefully set, with a strawweight matchup set to open the card where a five-fight UFC veteran will be hoping to earn her fourth win since debuting in April of 2022.
Piera Rodriguez was disqualified in 2024 for headbutting her opponent before she called her out on social media
In May of 2014, Piera Rodriguez hoped to bounce back from her first defeat inside the Octagon when facing off with Ariane Carnelossi on the same night that Lerone Murphy defeated Edson Barboza.
Rodriguez looked firmly on her way to emerging as the victor until the fight ended in a rare disqualification following a break in the action in the second round.
The Venezuelan fighter hurt and dropped her opponent but while she looked to land damage on the ground, she was warned by referee Mark Smith about colliding heads.
Immediately after Smith’s warning, Rodriguez seemingly intentionally headbutted her opponent, which led to the fight being waved off after Carnelossi was given nearly the full five minutes to recover.
Despite most reactions to the fight agreeing what Rodriguez was correctly disqualified for the headbutt, the 32-year-old showed no remorse for her actions in a post-fight statement on social media.
‘La Fiera’ admitted that she made a mistake in the heat of the moment but called Carnelossi out for her reaction to the fight-ending sequence.
“I’d rather lose a fight because of a mistake I did, than go home calling myself a ‘winner’ knowing I am a coward,” Rodriguez wrote. “I made a big mistake, maybe because of adrenaline… But you have to go to sleep with that lie in your head your entire life! [Carnelossi] and you call yourself brave? I hope you and your team enjoy my money!”
Ariane Carnelossi suffered several injuries in this fight which she detailed in a statement
In her own statement after the fight via her Instagram story, Ariane Carnelossi revealed that she suffered several injuries in her fight with Piera Rodriguez.
Carnelossi listed a fractured nose, an injury to the zygomantic bone and the formation of a blood clot in the sinus region as the effects she was dealing with after the fight, though they could have come from the damage that she took before the headbutt.
Rodriguez bounced back from this defeat with a win over Josefine Knutsson last December before her upcoming return against Ketlen Souza on August 2.