In numerous methods, Ronaldo Rodriguez currently won.
Rodriguez, muchbetter understood as “Lazy Boy,” was not expected to make it this far, as the chances were greatly stacked versus him. Yet, here he is, hours away from opening up the UFC 306 pay-per-view primary card this Saturday at Sphere in Las Vegas in what will be his 2nd battle with the promo.
Rodriguez hasactually taken a great piece of the spotlight this battle week. He took the program at Thursday’s Noche UFC press conference with his heated back-and-forth with Ode Osbourne and is heading into the occasion as one of the most precious, followed, and hyped Mexican fighters on the card.
Although it might appear like things are simply getting began for the 25-year-old possibility, Rodriguez has currently been through a lot to get to this phase.
The starting
Rodriguez was born in Chiapas, one of the poorest states in Mexico with a incredible hardship rate of 74.7%, according to a 2012 researchstudy from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography. In Chiapas, Rodriguez lived in a small town – which, according to a 2010 census, had a population of less than 500.
“We’re from a town called Jiquipilas, and a town called Nueva Independencia, that’s where I grew up,” Rodriguez informed MMA Junkie in Spanish. “There are no roadways, there is no web, there’s barely any electricalenergy. People relocation around in horses, however there are some vehicles. There is one roadway and a park that’s all pavement.
“It’s a extremely bad area. I believe havingactually grown up there and seeing all the challenges we had to go through and all the times we were starving or didn’t have clothing or shoes to use, it was those experiences that created the male you see today. The guy who’s working to muchbetter himself and construct a tradition.”
A single mom raised Rodriguez. His grandparents were farmworkers who cultivated corn and pumpkin. It was clear early on that he had no future in Chiapas, which is why it was his home for just 7 years.
“Chiapas has the greatest index of hardship in Mexico,” Rodriguez stated. “My mom provided me the chance to leave the town. She was both a mom and a daddy to me. She took the danger to action out her convenience zone and leave the town so she might offer a muchbetter life to her child.”
Veracruz and his intro to MMA
Looking for a muchbetter future, Rodriguez and his mama moved to a larger city in Veracruz, about a four-hour drive from their home in Chiapas. He was about 7 years old when they made the modification, and there, Rodriguez’s mom started working as a housemaid to assistance their living.
Soon after moving to Veracruz, Rodriguez understood he had a lot of duty on his shoulders, possibly more than the average kid.
“About 8 years old, I understood that no one was going to figure out my life for me,” Rodriguez stated. “I understood that a stepfather wasn’t going to come in and buy me whatever I desired. That I wasn’t going to win the lotto. That no one was going to do something for me. I understood I just had my mom, and my mom just had me. No one was going to figure out our lives. I understood the just one that might make a modification was me.”
Rodriguez invested the bulk of his youth and teenage years in Veracruz. There, he recognized that studying wasn’t his thing, however combating was.
“Since I was a kid, I liked combating,” Rodriguez stated. “In high school, I got kicked out twotimes for battling. I ended up in the most bothersome high school in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz. It was there where all the kids that other schools didn’t desire would end up. But it was something that I required to live through. I constantly liked battling.
Rodriguez was a huge Julio Cesar Chavez fan and desired to pursue a profession in boxing. Unfortunately for the world of the “Sweet Science,” there was just an MMA fitnesscenter readilyavailable to him, so he started training there at the age of 14.
“Four months into my training, I had my veryfirst amateur battle,” Rodriguez remembered. “The amateur kind of Mexico is quite much expert, however they wear’t have to pay you, so that’s why they call it amateur. I had about 22 of those battles and from there I had my expert launching.”
Another relocation and the early steps as a expert fighter
Like Chiapas, Veracruz quickly started to feel like a little town for a starving and skilled Rodriguez looking to take his expert MMA profession seriously. There wasn’t much else for him to do MMA-wise, so at 17, he chose to go to the country’s capital, Mexico City, where there was a larger, more robust MMA scene.
“I informed my mother that I didn’t desire to be a concern for her and school wasn’t truly my thing, so I made the choice to leave home and go to Mexico City to chase my dream,” Rodriguez stated. “In Veracruz there were no expert battles, there was no one signingup them. I still have a coupleof battles not signedup in my Tapology. It didn’t mean anything to battle and make cash with no record of my battles.”
Fortunately for “Lazy Boy,” his fitnesscenter in Veracruz was associated with a fitnesscenter in Mexico City called ADAM, run by Rene Diosdado and his sibling. They were pleased to take in Rodriguez and let him live in the healthclub. Little did Rodriguez understand that the healthclub was going to be his home for the next 4 years.
“I was training all day,” Rodriguez stated. “I mean 3, 4 times a day in the fitnesscenter duetothefactthat that’s all I had. Thank God there were numerous individuals there that saw my effort and lotsof would come with a