Gregory Rodrigues, MarQuel Mederos, UFC Shanghai picks

Jim Norton and Matt Serra are joined by two UFC Sacramento winners fresh off statement performances before looking ahead to this Saturday’s UFC Shanghai card.First, 7th-ranked middleweight Gregory Rodrigues joins the show after collecting his fourth straight win in last Saturday’s main event with a unanimous decision over hometown favorite Anthony Hernandez. Humbly aware of his reputation as a devastating striker, “RoboCop” reflects on how a fighter with jiu-jitsu roots has grown into a complete mixed martial artist under Kill Cliff head trainer Henri Hooft.A day removed from Alex Apodaca’s historic upset of Bella Mir in Tuesday’s DWCS main event, Jim and Matt reflect on what it takes to deliver as a massive underdog — a topic Matt Serra knows better than most.Jim and Matt are then joined by lightweight MarQuel Mederos, who assesses his own impressive showing against durable veteran Mason Jones. Now living and training in Arizona, Mederos revisits his Texas roots and how getting caught up selling weed in his younger years ultimately led him toward martial arts where he is now eyeing a Top-15 opponent next after a five-fight unbeaten start to his UFC career.Finally, Jim and Matt wrap up the show with three picks each in a preview of this weekend’s fights in Shanghai.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.