Rafael dos Anjos put together the most complete performance of his MMA career at a perfect time to upset Anthony Pettis at UFC 185. The victory by unanimous decision makes him the new UFC lightweight champion and greatly improves his future outlook.
Dos Anjos had been showing signs of notable improvement as of late. He knocked out Benson Henderson in the first round last summer and backed it up in December with a win over Nate Diaz. Facing Pettis was another major step up in competition, though.
He responded tremendously. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the fight was his willingness to attack without showing an ounce of fear. Many fighters are a little tentative in their first UFC title fight, especially in the early going. He came out firing on all cylinders.
The Brazilian connected with some heavy shots and was seemingly able to take down Pettis, a normally strong defender, at will.
Afterward, Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com passed along comments from an obviously impressed UFC president Dana White.
“I didn’t imagine anybody could do that to Anthony Pettis and he did tonight,” White said. “Absolutely dominated him everywhere. Beating Anthony Pettis is a big deal.”
Dos Anjos sent out a message of appreciation to his opponent:
SportsCenter highlighted exactly how dominant he was when it came to significant strikes:
Aside from the win, the other notable news to come out of fight night was an injury to the new champion. Damon Martin of Fox Sports reported dos Anjos hurt his MCL while training for the title opportunity and decided to push forward anyway.
He doesn’t believe the injury will require surgery, though. So he’s planning to just rest up before starting to get ready for his first title defense.
The Fox Sports report notes White confirmed dos Anjos is likely to face the winner of the UFC 187 bout between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Donald Cerrone.
He’s faced off with both of them before. He defeated Cerrone back in 2013 and lost to Nurmagomedov in his very next fight. It’s the only blemish on his record over his past 10 trips into the Octagon.
Nurmagomedov made it clear he’s ready for the potential title fight:
The road back to the top is uncertain at this point for Pettis. MMA Fighting pointed out that White said there wouldn’t be an immediate rematch:
Mike Johnston of Sportsnet picked up on comments from Nate Diaz to present one possibility:
It makes sense on paper. Both are looking for bounce-back victories after losing to dos Anjos, and it’s definitely the type of high-profile encounter the UFC needs.
Regardless of whether it’s Diaz or somebody else, Pettis needs to learn from Saturday night. The loss was a wake-up call. Even when you’re at the top of the division, you need to keep making strides or somebody is going to pass you by.
His track record suggests he’ll be able to bounce back and return to the title picture sooner rather than later. But there’s certainly a lot of work to do.
Dos Anjos is the new king of the lightweight division, and if he keeps building off his effort at UFC 185, he could remain in that position for quite awhile.
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