Yair Rodríguez is reportedly set to return against Steve Garcia in a featherweight bout at UFC 335 on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2026, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The UFC had not officially announced the fight at the time of writing.
What was reported
According to Heavy.com, the matchup was first reported by the Russian Telegram channel Dvoyechka MMA, and multiple sources then confirmed it to the outlet. Heavy and MMA Mania both list the fight for UFC 335, and our database also has the bout on the card. Garcia has reportedly shared the matchup on Instagram with a UFC 335 poster, but we could not verify that post ourselves.
Until the UFC makes the booking official, treat the fight as reported rather than confirmed.
Background on the fighters
Yair Rodríguez, known as El Pantera, is 20-5 with one no contest. He last fought at UFC 314 in April 2025, where he beat Patrício Pitbull by unanimous decision. That win followed a third-round submission loss to Brian Ortega in February 2024 and a third-round technical knockout loss to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 290 in July 2023, when the former interim champion fought for the undisputed featherweight title. If the bout goes ahead on Dec. 12, he will have been out for about 20 months. Heavy.com lists him at No. 6 in the UFC's media rankings.
Steve Garcia, nicknamed Mean Machine, is 19-6, and Heavy.com lists him at No. 10 in the UFC's media rankings. He comes off a second-round technical knockout loss to Diego Lopes at UFC Freedom 250 in June, which ended a seven-fight winning streak. Before that he beat David Onama by first-round TKO in November 2025 and Calvin Kattar by decision in July 2025. Fifteen of his 19 wins have come by knockout or TKO, and none by submission.
The UFC 335 card
UFC 335 is headlined by Charles Oliveira against Diego Lopes for Oliveira's symbolic BMF title, a five-round lightweight bout that the UFC announced on Oct. 4. It will be Lopes' lightweight debut; he is ranked No. 2 at featherweight, so he fights on the same night as the man he stopped in June. In the co-main event, Alex Pereira meets Sergei Pavlovich at heavyweight.
According to the UFC, the early prelims start at 5 p.m. ET, the prelims at 7 p.m. ET and the main card at 9 p.m. ET (2 a.m. GMT on Sunday, Dec. 13). Where Rodríguez vs. Garcia sits on the card has not been announced.
Rodríguez vs. Garcia would pair a former interim champion coming off a long layoff with a knockout-heavy contender looking to bounce back. An official announcement from the UFC would settle the matchup.
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Sources
This article was generated with AI and may contain errors.