After years of struggling with injuries and oversized opponents at Welterweight, Rafael dos Anjos is ready to run through the Lightweight competition.
Rafael dos Anjos is back!
Not just back to action, although he does fight Rafael Fiziev tonight (Sat., July 9, 2022) at UFC Vegas 58 inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. And not just back to Lightweight, although he is back where he belongs at 155 pounds.
Most important, he’s back to 100 percent health.
dos Anjos was recently forced to take more than one year off to fix some injuries, and for a while it wasn’t looking like he’d be able to come back in top form because doctors in the United States couldn’t diagnose his issue.
“Doctors in the United States couldn’t figure out what I had,” dos Anjos said during the UFC Vegas 58 media day. “I would be retired if it wasn’t for Brazil.
“Yeah, I went to two, three different [U.S.] doctors and they couldn’t say, [it was] ‘Okay, your MRI cool, I don’t see any dysfunction in your groin.’ But, I went to Brazil, I did a different type of MRI, and they find the dysfunction on my groin. And then I got the surgery and here I am 100 percent.”
As for what exactly was wrong with dos Anjos, he detailed his severe injuries to CBS Sports back in March leading into his last win over Renato Moicano.
“I had a sports hernia, which was on my abdomen wall,” dos Anjos said. “That was back in March, it’s going to be a year. I fought Paul Felder with that injury. I couldn’t kick, I couldn’t squat down, I couldn’t do any sit-ups. I signed up for the fight and I fought with that injury. The other one was the meniscus on my right knee. I was just training, getting ready for Islam [Makhachev]. I had something they call a bucket handle on my meniscus. I removed it and now I’m 100 percent.”
After an amazing run in the first half of the 2010s that saw him win UFC’s 155-pound title, dos Anjos went 4-4 at 17o pounds. His return to Lightweight began with a split decision win over Paul Felder. And when you realize he put on that performance with a hernia and a bucket handle tear in his knee, you have to wonder what he’ll be able to accomplish now that he’s healed and back where he belongs at Lightweight.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 58 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance (on ESPN/ESPN+) at 9 p.m. ET.
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