Author: Guilherme Cruz

Winner of seven of his past eight UFC fights, Rafael dos Anjos doesn’t feel he gets the love he deserves.

The Brazilian lightweight, who scored back-to-back knockouts over former champion Ben Henderson and Jason High in a span of 77 days earlier this year, recently called out the MMA media on Twitter, asking if he needed to talk more to get attention.

“I feel people who just got in the UFC getting a lot of hype on those guys, like Conor McGregor,” dos Anjos told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “The guy just got his third fight in the UFC and there’s a lot of hype on this type of guy because they talk, they talk a lot. I’m not this type of guy.

“People see me because I’m winning my fights. That’s how I want people seeing me,” he continued. “But I was thinking about it. I need talk more, call people out. It’s not who I am, but I feel I need to do this more to bring more attention for me.

“I’ve been on the road for a long time, I’ve been in the UFC for six years. I moved here to California three years ago to chase my dreams and, since I moved to California, I’ve improved a lot my skills and I have shown this. But I feel that people don’t give the respect that I deserve. I keep beating people. I keep winning my fights, trying to reach my goal, trying to get my belt. That’s what I want.”

Ranked No. 3 in the UFC lightweight division, dos Anjos felt frustrated when he bought the UFC game for his kids. Ben Henderson and Donald Cerrone, fighters who dos Anjos recently beat inside the Octagon, are in the EA Sports game, but he’s not.

Just bought the @ufc game for my kids. They asked me why I’m not in it. @danawhite @lorenzofertitta I’m ranked 3 in the world. Help me out

— Rafael dos Anjos (@RdosAnjosMMA) 6 novembro 2014

“I really feel bad about that,” dos Anjos said. “I got a game for my kids and they were asking me ‘why are you not in the game? There are a lot of guys that you beat and they are here’. I don’t know what to say them, so I (wrote) that tweet. Like I said, I’ve been on the company for six years already. … I got a little frustrated when my kids asked that.”

The UFC gave dos Anjos the co-main event sport at the UFC on FOX 13 card against Nate Diaz after his devastating win over Henderson, and the Brazilian is finally starting to feel the love.

“I think people started talking more about me after that fight, but I think my big dream is still coming,” dos Anjos said. “I have a fight against a top guy, Nathan Diaz, on Dec. 13. My focus is on that fight right now, and I’m looking forward beating him and getting my title shot.”

Diaz will make his return to the Octagon almost 13 months after his last bout, a first-round TKO win over Gray Maynard, but the Brazilian lightweight doesn’t feel Diaz deserved to face a top contender after winning only one of his past three bouts.

“I was surprised because he hasn’t fought in a year, and he’s not in the top 10,” dos Anjos said. “I wanna be in shape, stay active. I think that the only guy before me is Khabib (Nurmagomedov), but he’s out (with an injury) and will only be back next year, so I accepted this fight because I wanna be in shape and fight around the same time of the title fight.

“To be honest, I think no, he doesn’t deserve (this fight),” dos Anjos said. “But like I said, I accepted this fight because I wanna be active, I wanna be in shape, and I wanna fight at the same time of the title fight because we have a good time to fight next. I wanna have my chance. I wanna be the first Brazilian to get this belt. I wanna get this belt to Brazil.”

dos Anjos agrees that Nurmagomedov should fight for the title before him if he’s cleared to compete after a knee injury. However, if the Russian lightweight isn’t ready to return, dos Anjos should be the one facing the winner of Anthony Pettis vs. Gilbert Melendez.

In fact, the Brazilian lightweight doesn’t think Melendez deserved a shot at the UFC champion.

“Melendez fought three times in the UFC. His first fight was the title and he lost. He almost lost to Diego Sanchez, it was a tough fight, and he’s fighting for the title again. In my opinion, it’s not fair,” he said. “After I beat Nate Diaz, I think I deserve a title shot.”

Claudia Gadelha could be one win away from a title fight if she beats undefeated Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC on FOX 13 on Dec. 13, and the Nova Uniao fighter would be closer to her dream after almost destroying her own life 10 years ago.

Gadelha, a jiu-jitsu champion who made her transition to MMA in 2008, told Tatame magazine that competing in sports helped her beat drug addiction when she was 15 years old.

“That was when I started using drugs. I did everything: using (cocaine), smoking marijuana,” Gadelha, who had family issues at that time, said in the interview. “Sports got me out of drugs when I was 15. I wanted to start working out and doing exercises, but my mother wouldn’t let me. At first, I started working out without telling her. I remember I skipped school to go to the gym.”

Born in Mossoro, Rio Grande do Norte, Gadelha started training at Kimura Nova Uniao with Jair Lourenco, and getting beat up in training after going out helped her realize she needed focus.

“I reeducated myself as a person,” she said. “I liked to drink, to go out, and sports gave me another idea of life. I saw that if I went out the night before, I wouldn’t be able to train well the next morning.”

Six years after her first professional MMA fight, Gadelha scored a unanimous decision win over Tina Lahdemaki in her UFC debut. A win over Jędrzejczyk on Dec. 13 likely earns her a shot at the The Ultimate Fighter 20 winner, who will be crowned the first UFC strawweight champion the night before.

“Signing with the UFC was the best moment of my career,” Gadelha said. “It made me see that everything I went through was worthy.”

“I think that this is my belt,” she continued. “I’m trying to achieve something in this career for 10 years. I don’t think anyone is as focused as I am. It’s not a dream you have for three or four years, like many of those girls have. It’s something I dream about 10 years. I’ve been working for a long time for this. I will do everything inside the cage to bring this title to Brazil.”

UBERLANDIA, Brazil — Juliana Lima scored her first UFC win with a unanimous decision over Nina Ansaroff at UFC Fight Night 56 in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, on Nov. 8, but she’s not completely happy with her performance.

Lima had to escape from a few submission attempts on her way to the decision victory, and she admits that fighting in her home state got her too excited during the bout.

“I wish I had the chance to move more, but the adrenaline of fighting for the UFC in your home state consumed some of my gas,” Lima told the media in Brazil. “As my coach says, you only saw 30 or 40 percent of what I can do. I’m only getting better, and you will see the real ‘Ju Thai’ in my next fight.”

According to the muay thai specialist, one of the reasons why she performed better against Ansaroff compared to her UFC debut against Joanna Jędrzejczyk is because she had proper time to cut weight.

“I had trouble cutting weight for my first UFC bout,” Lima said. “They offered me the fight with one month’s notice, and I was at 137 pounds. I had weeks to cut weight, and that was the first time I had to dehydrate, so my body felt that. I was stronger and faster tonight.”

Lima improved to 7-2 in MMA with the win, and all of her victories came in Minas Gerais.

“It’s great to fight at home, feel the energy of the crowd,” she said. “It was a matter of honor to me. You can’t beat me in my home state.”

The Brazilian strawweight returned to the win column following a decision loss to Jędrzejczyk in her Octagon debut in July, and she welcomes more challenges.

“There’s no easy fight in the UFC,” Lima said. “From the moment you get in there to fight someone, you know it’s a tough fight. The UFC gave me two tough fights, and that’s great because it means they see me as a tough fighter. Bring me more.”

Mauricio Rua suffered the fastest loss of his professional career at UFC Fight Night 56, and the 34-second knockout to Ovince St. Preux might force a change to his fighting career.

A couple days after his loss in Uberlandia, Brazil, the former UFC light heavyweight champion posted on his Facebook page that he could move down to middleweight division after going 1-4 in his last five bouts inside the Octagon.

I want to have my thanks registered here for all the support on my fight Saturday night. I want to also thank you guys for all the showings of care and support after the fight.

Losing is always very bad, hurts a lot, but what’s hurting more is to lose without being able to show what I trained, and what I know. Fighting is fighting, and I know very well that in this weight class any punch that connects early on can cost a huge price. For many times in my career I was in the happy side and unfortunately this time I faced the sad side of this story. I know a lot of people will unload harsh words, some will make constructive criticism and others will take the chance to throw all sorts of jokes and offensive words as possible. Unfortunately this is all part of being in the spotlights, and it’s something that we as professional athletes, and mostly in Brazil, have to be always used to deal with.

As much as some will doubt it, I prepared myself a lot for this fight and was well trained, and this is what hurts the most about losing this way, without being able to show what I trained. Those who followed it, trained with me, or saw some of my training knows this. When you lose fighting some rounds, or even some minutes, in some ways it’s less of a suffering ‘cause you were able to show what you got and what you prepared, and it wasn’t enough. But losing this way it’s certainly very frustrating.

I made a technical mistake, maybe due to anxiety and a big will to get this win in Brazil in such an important moment of my career, and I paid the price. Props to St. Preux, It’s part of the game and he deserved the win.

Now I will rest, enjoy my family and then think about my next steps, TUF Brazil, maybe a weight class change, but I’ll keep on going ‘cause winning is easy, but keep on battling and overcome the obstacles is what makes a true fighter. Thank you all for the support.

The UFC will make seven trips to Brazil in 2015, and the first one will be right after Carnival.

The UFC will be announcing its complete 2015 schedule at a special event on Nov. 17 in Las Vegas, but MMAFighting.com learned with sources close to the situation, that UFC’s first Fight Night card in Brazil next year is scheduled for Feb. 22.

Location and venue are still yet to be defined, sources said, but Jaragua do Sul is a possibility.

The promotion has held a pair of Fight Night cards at Arena Jaragua, drawing an announced attendance of 7,642 and 7,511 for Vitor Belfort vs. Luke Rockhold in 2013 and Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi in 2014, respectively.

The next UFC card scheduled for Brazil is on Dec. 20, 2014, with Machida headlining UFC Fight Night 58 against C.B. Dollaway.

Marshall Zelaznik, the UFC’s managing director of international development, said at the UFC Fight Night 56 post-fight press conference in Uberlandia, Brazil, on Nov. 8 that the promotion is planning on doing two UFC shows in Sao Paulo in 2015, including a soccer stadium event.

“We have been waiting for the Palmeiras Arena, the Allianz (Parque) arena, to be open for a long time,” Zelaznik said. “I know they have an opening event, some football match, so it’s on our list, for sure. We’re hoping maybe getting two events in Sao Paulo next year.”

Allianz Parque, a 43,600-seat soccer stadium in Sao Paulo, will host its first official event on Nov. 19 in a soccer match between Palmeiras, which owns the stadium, and Sport. The stadium could possibly draw 55,000 fans in attendance for a UFC card.

The Brazilian MMA Athletic Commission (CABMMA) announced on Monday that two of the 20 UFC Fight Night 56 fighters are suspended six months pending medical clearance after Saturday night’s fights in Uberlandia, Brazil.

Warlley Alves, who scored a close decision win over Alan Jouban, and Cody Covington, who tapped Wagner Silva, need x-ray exams to come back before their 180-day suspensions.

Mauricio Rua, who suffered a 34-second knockout loss to Ovince St. Preux in the main event, received a 60-day suspension. OSP can return to training in a couple weeks.

UFC Fight Night 56 took place Nov. 8, 2014 at the Tancredo Neves gymnasium in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais. A complete medical suspension list can be seen below.

Colby Covington: Suspended 180 days pending clearance of foot
Wagner Silva: Suspended 30 days; 21 days no contact
Tim Gorman: Suspended 45 days; 30 days no contact
Thomas Almeida: Suspended 60 days; 45 days no contact
Charlie Brenneman: Suspended 30 days; 21 days no contact
Leandro Silva: Suspended 30 days; 21 days no contact
Trevor Smith: Suspended 45 days; 30 days no contact
Caio Magalhaes: Suspended 14 days; 7 days no contact
Rodolfo Rubio: Suspended 30 days; 21 days no contact
Diego Rivas: Suspended 45 days; 30 days no contact
Nina Ansaroff: Suspended 30 days; 21 days no contact
Juliana Lima: Suspended 30 days; 21 days no contact
Jorge Oliveira: Suspended 45 days; 30 days no contact
Dhiego Lima: Suspended 45 days; 30 days no contact
Leon Edwards: Suspended 45 days; 30 days no contact
Claudio Silva: Suspended 45 days; 30 days no contact
Alan Jouban: Suspended 45 days; 30 days no contact
Warlley Alves: Suspended 180 days pending clearance of right rib
Ovince Saint Preux: Suspended 14 days; 7 days no contact
Shogun Rua: Suspended 60 days; 45 days no contact