Rafael dos Anjos pulls off improbable, wins lightweight gold at UFC 185
For the past year, Rafael dos Anjos had said it was his dream to win the UFC lightweight championship. Fantasy became reality on Saturday night as dos Anjos pulled off an improbable upset and took the gold from Anthony "Showtime" Pettis in the main event of UFC 185 in Dallas.
At one time in his career, dos Anjos was 4-4 as a UFC fighter and looked like the mid-card probably would be his home as long as he was competing in the Octagon.
A mountain of determination along with guidance from new head coach Rafael Cordeiro gave dos Anjos the confidence that he could tackle the best fighters in the world at 155 pounds.
An 8-1 record over his previous nine fights proved dos Anjos' resolve, and as he stepped into the cage with Pettis, there clearly was no doubt in his mind that he could put in the work to get the job done and take the lightweight belt back to Brazil.
From the very start of the fight, dos Anjos showed absolutely no fear of Pettis' kickboxing heavy attack. He constantly moved forward with punches and kicks that caught Pettis off guard, and rarely did the champion have a counter to answer with.
Dos Anjos said after the fight that the strategy was to go after Pettis from the moment the fight started and once Pettis felt the kind of power the Brazilian was packing in his punches, dos Anjos believed it would change the entire dynamic of the fight.
He was right on the money.
"The strategy was chase him, hit him hard and make him scared of my hands," dos Anjos said. "I think once I hit him, the fight changed. Once I started throwing my kicks and my punches, he felt I was throwing hard and that was part of the game. Make him afraid of my punches and kicks."
In the second round, dos Anjos opened up a cut around Pettis' left eye and cheek, and after mixing in a takedown, the veteran contender started to target the area with his punches and elbows. When Pettis got back to his feet, a stream of blood was trickling down the front of his face, and at that moment he had to know this was going to be a long night.
Dos Anjos was not only better than Pettis on the feet and on the ground, but he also consistently took the champion wherever he wanted. It appeared dos Anjos was about to get a finish in the fourth round as he snatched Pettis' arm and started looking for a kimura, but to his credit, the Milwaukee native was able to survive.
The fifth round featured more of the same, as dos Anjos was on the attack from start to finish, including another takedown and nearly taking Pettis' back before the fight finally ended. There was no controversy on the judges' scorecards, because dos Anjos made it very easy when the night was over.
All three judges scored the fight the same, 50-45, and dos Anjos stood tall as the new UFC lightweight champion.
"It's such an amazing blessing. I knew I was going to win before this fight happened," dos Anjos said with a smile plastered across his face. "I'm the best in the world; thank you Jesus for that. I came from the bottom. Now I'm the main event and UFC champion."
Following the conclusion of the fight, dos Anjos revealed that he walked into UFC 185 at well less than 100 percent after suffering a partial tear in the MCL in his knee less than a month before the fight.
It happened while a UFC film crew was at dos Anjos' camp and when the injury happened, there was an initial concern that he might actually have to pull out of the fight. He persevered and just altered his training dramatically to allow the knee to heal, but considering how he won, it makes dos Anjos' peformance all that more amazing.
"The day that they was shooting the Countdown with me, the same day they were shooting some of my sparring sessions, I popped my knee," dos Anjos told FOX Sports. "I think for the fact that I've been so active my whole career and I've never had a knee injury my whole life. My knee's really tough, but for the first time this happened.
"Three weeks ago this happened — I couldn't grapple, I couldn't wrestle since that. If you guys notice I didn't use any kicks at the open workouts because I was kind of dehydrated and I didn't want to my injury to get worse. Everything went perfectly in the fight."
The good news is dos Anjos doesn't believe the injury will require surgery, but instead likely will need just a few weeks of rest and recovery with no training on the knee.
As for Pettis, the former champion was dejected after being dominated for five straight rounds. Pettis said an early punch from dos Anjos closed his eye, basically deciding the fight.
"No excuses. I've just got to go back to the gym and train," Pettis said.
The new champion now will enjoy the fruits of his victory as well as some much-needed time off as he awaits his next challenger to be determined for UFC 187.
UFC president Dana White confirmed once again that the fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone will determine the next challenger for dos Anjos. Funny enough, the new champion has plenty of history with both fighters: He defeated Cerrone on his way to the title shot and the only loss dos Anjos has suffered in his past 10 fights came by way of decision when he met Nurmagomedov in early 2014.
Either way it appears dos Anjos' first title defense will be a rematch at some point in 2015.
