Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports
Former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos knows how tough it is to recover from a broken jaw.
It may be hard for former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington to find some support on the internet after his loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 245. However, one of the last men he beat did share some sympathy to ‘Chaos’ following his fifth round TKO loss in Las Vegas.
Not only did Covington get knocked out in the final minute of the fight, he also got his jaw broken. It’s an injury with which former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos is very familiar with. In 2010, the Brazilian suffered a similar one, when he took on Clay Guida at UFC 117.
In fact, the pain was so unbearable that the Brazilian felt forced to tap out of the fight when the ‘Carpenter’ started squeezing Rafael’s face in search of a choke,
“I sure would (like a rematch with Covington).” Rafael told Ag Fight. “I’ve had that injury before. I don’t know how serious it is, but you need a strong mentality in order to come back from that. I really hope he fights again and doesn’t retire. I’ve seen many fighters retire after that injury. It’s something I don’t wish for my worst enemy. It took me six months just to begin training again, I remember how I was. I took me about 10 months to fight again, almost one year. But sure, it’s a fight that interests me.”
After the Guida loss, in August 2010, Rafael (29-12) only returned to the Octagon in July 2011, to knock out George Sotiropoulos at UFC 132. More recently, the 35-year-old dropped a unanimous decision to Leon Edwards, back in July of this year. His last win happened just one fight before that, tapping out Kevin Lee at UFC Rochester.