“I called his bluff”- Rafael dos Anjos offers some insight into his fight against Islam Makhachev falling through
Follow Us
Rafael Dos Anjos-Islam Makhachev
Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos is one strong contender that has proved himself time and again with the toughest schedule of fights, most of the fans have ever seen. In the lightweight, dos Anjos fought the likes of Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, Tony Ferguson, Eddie Alvarez and Khabib Nurmagomedov, 4 of these fighters are former lightweight champions. At welterweight, “RDA” has fought the likes Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington and Robbie Lawler with Usman and Lawler having held the belt and Usman being the current welterweight champion.
This in Dos Anjos’ character to not back up from fights, also, no matter on how many days notice. Case in point, when Dos Anjos’ opponent for UFC 272, Rafael Fiziev was out of the competition due to Covid, Dos Anjos accepted his fight in a late replacement opponent, Renato Moicano on a few days’ notice. However, Dos Anjos was all in to fight #3 Lightweight Islam Makhachev, had not Makhachev said no to the fight after being in for it.
Rafael Dos Anjos says he was already on welterweight when Islam Makhachev called the fight to happen at 170 lbs
In an interview at MMA Fighting‘s THE MMA HOUR with Ariel Helwani, Dos Anjos talks about his dominant unanimous decision victory of Renato Moicano at UFC 272 and how his fight with Makhachev was called off after being nearly closed to being a done deal.
“You guys hear what Dana said,” said Dos Anjos “And I said 165, like Bobby Green, jumped with him at 160, right? He couldn’t do 165 and then he said 170. They (UFC) called me and said Islam wants to go 170. I said okay, I will go 170, no problem and I even showed a picture of my scale here. After training, I was 171… That’s when they (Islam’s team) took the fight. But on the next morning, they said ‘oh no no no we’re not taking the fight’ so I think… I called his bluff,” concluded dos Anjos.
What do you make of Dos Anjos’ explanation of the situation where the fight was almost happening but the offer ended from Makhachev’s side at the last minute? Who do you think is next for Dos Anjos? Do you see him becoming the UFC champion again in near future? Where do you put Dos Anjos amongst the all-time fan favourite fighters of the UFC?
Stay Updated!
Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)