Dos Anjos (left) dominated at UFC Winnipeg (Photo: Reproduction Twitter ufc)
Once again, Rafael Dos Anjos shows that he knows how to reinvent himself like few others. By beating the former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler In the main fight of UFC Winnipeg, the Brazilian put himself once and for all on the route to the 77 kg category belt. After two consecutive defeats in the lightweight division, RDA dared to move to a heavier category and this Saturday's triumph (16) was the third sign that he made the right choice.
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After victories over Tarec saffiedine e Neil Magny, Robbie Lawler It was the toughest test for Rafael Dos Anjos. And showing his entire arsenal of kicks, crosses, uppercuts, flying knees and takedowns, the former lightweight champion gave “Ruthless” no room to try combinations and seek the knockout. The dominance was so great that the Brazilian won all five rounds on the scorecards of the three side judges.
After the duel, Rafael Dos Anjos pleaded his case and cited all the reasons why he deserves to be the next challenger to the current owner of the welterweight belt, the American Tyron woodley. And he warned that he will win.
“For everything I’ve done in this organization, I think I deserve it. I've been in the UFC for ten years, I was already lightweight champion. In my opinion, I just beat the toughest guy in the entire division. And you can be sure. When I get there, I’m going to get that belt”, he promised.
THE FIGHT
Knowing that Lawler likes to put pressure on his opponents, moving forward and counting on his resistance to deliver hard blows, Rafael knew how to behave offensively even when moving backwards. Investing in low kicks and crossed punches, the Brazilian had an advantage in the first round over the North American, who seemed lost with the variety of blows.
In the second round, the former welterweight champion was even more aggressive, but unleashed more blows. Dos Anjos knew how to deal with the pressure, seeking the clinch and investing knees into the opponent's body. RDA briefly got the takedown, but Lawler soon got back to his feet.
However, the Brazilian had more time to dominate the ground in the third round. Landing a great takedown, Rafael spent a good part of the round unleashing hard blows and even attempted a kimura and, later, a guillotine.
Very tired and with his shin swollen from the excess of absorbed kicks, Lawler began to lose power in his strikes, which allowed Rafael more space to unleash his arsenal in the last two rounds. At the end of the fourth, the Brazilian came close to being knocked out with a flying knee and, after a conservative four minutes of the final round, he picked up the pace, but was also unable to stop it. Nothing too serious for Dos Anjos, who showed dominance and seems destined to fight for another UFC belt.
Glover wins and challenges Cormier
G. Teixeira (right) challenges D. Cormier (left) (Photo: Reproduction Facebook ufc)
Opening the main portion of UFC Winnipeg, Glover Teixeira encountered surprising difficulties in developing his striking. Showing progress in this regard, Misha Cirkunov he applied hard blows to the Brazilian's face and even cornered him on a few occasions.
Feeling like he was getting the worst of it on the feet, Glover put his underrated wrestling on the line and soon took down Cirkunov. From then on, he began to develop his jiu-jitsu, taking the back and using a rear naked choke. The Latvian knew how to defend himself from the choke, but ended up giving up his mount. Teixeira began to apply hard blows and Cirkunov turned his back on him, just waiting for the referee to interrupt the duel.
After the victory, Glover made a point of challenging Daniel Cormier, current light heavyweight champion and who was in the gym to commentate on UFC Winnipeg for North American TV.
“Cormier, you said backstage that if I had an impressive performance against Cirkunov you would give me a title shot. Come on, man! I'm old school and so are you. Who here in Winnipeg doesn't want to see two old school guys trading blows in the middle of the octagon? Come on, baby!” Glover exclaimed, to the delight of the Canadians.
UFC Winnipeg results:
main card
Welterweight Weight: Rafael Dos Anjos won Robbie Lawler by unanimous decision (3x 50-45)
Feather weight: Josh Emmett defeated Ricardo Lamas by knockout at 4:33 of R1
Welterweight Weight: Santiago Ponzinibbio derrotou Mike Perry by unanimous decision (3×29-28)
Light Heavyweight: Glover Teixeira derrotou Misha Cirkunov by technical knockout at 2m45s of R1
Preliminary Card
Light Heavyweight: Jan Blachowicz derrotou Jared Cannonier by unanimous decision (3x 29-28)
Average weight: Julian Marquez derrotou Darren stewart via submission (guillotine) at 2m42s of R2
Welterweight: Chad Laprise defeated Galore Bofando via TKO at 4:10 of R1
Welterweight: Nordine Taleb defeated Daniel Roberts by TKO 59 seconds into R1
Lightweight: John makdessi defeated Abel Trujillo by unanimous decision (3x 30-27)
Average weight: Alessio di chirico defeated Oluwale Bamgbose by knockout in R2
Welterweight Weight: Jordan Mein defeated Erick silva by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27,30-27)
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