R. dos Anjos (photo) wants to regain the UFC lightweight belt. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
It took a while, but Rafael dos Anjos spoke about his future after losing the lightweight belt. Knocked out in the first round by Eddie Alvarez in July (7) of this year, at UFC Fight Night 90, Rafael spoke to the podcast “The MMA Hour” (USA) about learning from the defeat, changes in the team and the next steps in his career.
“I haven’t seen (the fight) many times. I recorded it on television, but I never saw it. I watched the highlights on the internet, but I didn't see the whole fight. I had a bad night at work. When you're a fighter and you don't have a good night at work, this happens, you lose the fight. Eddie had a great night and I had a bad one. I'm sure I'm the best fighter in the category and I'll prove it again. I’m still hungry”, assured the Brazilian.
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Asked about the lessons learned after the last setback, Dos Anjos stated that he learned a lot, especially the way people treated him before and after losing the division title: “I learned a lot of things, for example, how people treat you. treat. For each person in my family there was a learning experience. (…) People treat you one way when you are the champion, but another way when you are not the champion. It was good to know what people really think. We can't stop making adjustments and we will cut people to be champions again. Fortunately, some will no longer be with me.”
With a scheduled fight against Tony Ferguson for November 5th, Rafael believes that the winner of this fight will be placed as the next challenger. “I would need to fight someone, so I was thinking about who I should face. Tony Ferguson He's a guy who has eight straight wins and Khabib Nurmagomedov is begging for a chance to fight for the belt, but I would also fight against him to decide who would fight for the belt. I think Tony is better than Khabib, despite being behind in the rankings. I think Tony is ahead of him because he has fought more, been more active and has won eight in a row. This is the guy I'm going to beat and then I'm going to fight for the title.”
At 31 years old, Rafael dos Anjos became UFC champion by dominating Anthony Pettis and win on points. In his first title defense, he knocked out Donald Cerrone in just 66 seconds, but was surpassed by Eddie Alvarez the second time he put the strap in play. He has 14 wins and six losses in the UFC, with five performance bonuses for the night. In total, there are 25 triumphs and eight setbacks in his professional record.
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