Rafael dos Anjos believes the top lightweight contenders today aren’t old school like him.
Dos Anjos enjoyed a successful return to the lightweight division following a split decision win over Paul Felder in the UFC Vegas 14 headliner last night. In what really should have been a unanimous decision victory, “RDA” completely dominated Felder over all five rounds to make a statement to the rest of the division.
Following the win, Dos Anjos called for a fight with Conor McGregor with the latter even being receptive to the idea — only after facing Dustin Poirier. However, what really matters to Dos Anjos more than anything is getting his title back and becoming a two-time lightweight champion.
And whoever gets him there is who he ultimately wants to fight next.
“Whoever leads me to the gold,” dos Anjos said in the post-fight press conference (via MMA Junkie). “I moved up to become a champion again. Everything I do in life I try to be the best at it.
“When I move up to welterweight, I had a good shot, I won three fights in a row, I beat a former champion, I fought for the title. I didn’t win, but now I’m back to lightweight, and I want to fight for the belt. The belt is my goal and whoever leads me to the belt.”
That said, the Brazilian believes the top lightweights are being strategic by not taking certain fights which could present problems in trying to get his next fight booked.
That’s in huge contrast to Dos Anjos who is an old-school guy willing to fight anybody the UFC puts in front of him.
“Whoever in this top five, fighters are playing very strategic,” he added. “People don’t want to take fights because they want someone else to take a fight because they want to see what the result is going to be. I don’t like that.
“I’m an old-school guy and everybody fights everybody back in the day. But I feel like guys these days, they plan it so strategic. We’ll see how things are going to go and how they’re going to play out.”
With Felder being ranked No. 7 heading into the fight, there’s a likely possibility Dos Anjos gets that ranking in the next update. And although it’s not clear who he is talking about with regard to the top lightweights, he will certainly be in prime position to get a top-five opponent next.
Do you agree with Dos Anjos?