At this point in his mixed martial arts (MMA) career, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos won’t drop back down to the 155-pound division for just any ordinary fight. He wants a fight that will be worth his while. Speaking to Helen Yee recently, “RDA” said that a fight against someone like UFC mega-star Conor McGregor would certainly interest him (via BJPenn.com):
“I’m at that stage of my career where I need fights that excite me,” Dos Anjos said. “I have 39 fights and [I’m] 34 years old, I still have a lot on me but now I have to have some fights that excite me.
“I don’t want to fight regular guys just to drop to lightweight, kill myself, and it not be worth the money. A super fight with Conor for example, I think it would be worth the drop in weight.”
McGregor’s last Octagon appearance resulted in a fourth-round submission defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov. “The Eagle” pretty much dominated the Irishman with grappling up until the finish. Dos Anjos explained why he wasn’t too surprised by the way things ended between McGregor and Khabib:
“No, [I wasn’t surprised by the results of the fight with Nurmagomedov],” Dos Anjos said. “I knew for Conor’s game [that] Khabib would be a very tough style, it’s a very bad match for him. Conor tends to break a little bit. As things get tougher, he tends to break.
“If everything goes his way, he’ll grow balls but when things get bad for his side, his balls shrink so I wasn’t surprised for that outcome. I’m not afraid to take any shots, [a fight with Conor] would be better than my last fights where I fought big wrestlers trying to wrestle me and hold me down and stuff like that.”
The Fight That Never Was
“The Notorious One” was scheduled to face “RDA” once-upon-a-time. McGregor was set to challenge for the Brazilian’s then-lightweight title at UFC 196 in 2016. However, dos Anjos broke his foot before the fight, and Nate Diaz stepped in on late-notice, kicking off one of the best rivalries in MMA history.
What do you think about a possible fight between McGregor and “RDA”?
