Dos Anjos almost faced Woodley at UFC 214 (Photo: Reproduction/Combateplay
Rafael dos Anjos He only had one fight in the welterweight division, but he narrowly missed out on a title shot in the category despite his short trajectory at the weight. Ultimate matchmaker Sean Shelby admitted that the former lightweight champion was close to replacing Demian Maia at UFC 214, in July, when the Brazilian lost the title fight to Tyron woodley. According to the manager, Dos Anjos, who will face Neil Magny at UFC 215, this Saturday (09), it was a 'plan B' if Demian did not accept the title fight.
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“The interesting thing about the fight between Dos Anjos vs. Magny is that we had a question for the confrontation between Tyron woodley e Demian Maia. Tyron's team made it public that the athlete would fight on the card, and Maia wasn't sure if she would be able to participate, initially. Who was on the waiting list for that fight was Rafael dos Anjos. He had already accepted the fight with Tyron, in case Maia couldn't fight. He wants to fight every week. I said 'the middleweight title fight didn't happen, but I'll try to get you back into something interesting as soon as I can'. After that, we had Magny who just responded 'I'm ready to fight,'” said Shelby.
Rafael dos Anjos, 32 years old, won the lightweight belt in March 2015, when he beat Anthony Pettis and defended the title against Donald Cerrone, in December of the same year. Rafa was chosen to face Conor McGregor in a superfight, but ended up getting injured and only returned to the octagon in July 2016, when he was surprised by Eddie Alvarez and lost the title. He then lost again, this time to Tony Ferguson, last November. After the setback, he decided to move up to welterweight, where he has already beaten Tarec saffiedine, in June this year. In total, the Brazilian has a professional record of 26 wins and nine losses.
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