If you’re looking for the fighters with the most to lose at UFC 185 at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, look to the very top of the fight card. UFC lightweight champion and pound-for-pound contender Anthony “Showtime” Pettis will take on the dangerous, but somewhat unheralded Rafael dos Anjos.
While dos Anjos scored a huge win over Benson Henderson to earn the title shot on Saturday, he doesn’t have the name recognition that someone like Henderson, Donald Cerrone or even Khabib Nurmagomedov has.
There’s tons of pressure any time a world title is at stake, but for Pettis, losing his belt to dos Anjos would be perceived differently than if he lost it to any of the other three men mentioned. According to Odds Shark, dos Anjos is the underdog with the third-longest odds on Saturday night.
An upset would not only cost Pettis his title, but it would deal a blow to his legacy as one of the best fighters in this era.
Pettis has both Cerrone and Nurmagomedov on his radar, but doesn’t appear to be looking past dos Anjos. According to John Morgan and Ken Hathaway of MMA Junkie, Pettis said:
Honestly, (dos Anjos) is probably the most dangerous guy I see on the lightweight roster besides Khabib. Khabib beat him, so you’ve got to say that. But other than that, dos Anjos beat (Donald) Cerrone. Dos Anjos beat (Benson) Henderson. Us three are at the top of the division, so we’re going to battle it out and see who’s best.
Pettis has proved he can rise to the occasion before. We’ll see if he’s capable of turning back another worthy challenger.
Carla Esparza
While she’s not Ronda Rousey, it’s almost impossible for Carla Esparza’s reign as women’s strawweight champion not to be compared to the women’s bantamweight champion’s stay at the top.
Rousey has not only proved to be the most dominant female MMA fighter, she’s become the most elite regardless of gender. Those are tough steps to match for Esparza. Should she lose to Joanna Jedrzejczyk in the co-feature, she will have failed in her first defense of the title.
That’s clearly not the way she wants to begin and potentially end her career as a featured attraction. Fair or not, Esparza will be charged with carrying the women’s strawweight division during its infancy. A lack of stability at the top would hurt the overall perception of the division.
Esparza needs to prove she stands above the rest of her peers in the weight class—at least during her first few defenses.
Alistair Overeem
While he won his last bout over Stefan Struve in Dec. 2014, the pressure to string together a few victories is there for Alistair Overeem. He was once viewed as one of the most imposing and fierce heavyweights in the world, but he has alternated wins and losses lately and has lost three of his last five.
Even worse, Overeem has been viciously stopped in all three of the losses.
On Saturday, he takes on “Big Country” Roy Nelson. Both men are powerful, but Overeem is the quicker man. Nelson is by far the better wrestler, and both have some serious stamina concerns. As is usually the case with the heavyweights, the first man to land a big shot is probably going to be the winner.
If Overeem wants to stay off the cut line, he must ensure he’s not on the business end of that big shot.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.
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