There’s a new sheriff in the lightweight division, and his name is Rafael dos Anjos. The 30-year-old Brazilian sprung the upset over Anthony Pettis at UFC 185 via unanimous decision to become the seventh lightweight champion in UFC history.
Bleacher Report MMA tweeted out the result:
Dos Anjos made no bones about bringing the fight to Pettis in the lead-up to the bout, and he followed up on that talk. He came out as the aggressor in the opening minutes of the first round and even caught the champion with kicks to the body and crisp boxing combinations.
As the round carried on, Pettis settled into a counter-punching role that indicated there would be some furious exchanges before it was all said and done. A dos Anjos takedown closed out the round.
That late takedown would be an omen for what was to come in the second frame. After landing a few overhand lefts in the stand-up game, Dos Anjos once against took down the champion and stayed in control for the vast majority of the round.
Round 3 appeared to give Pettis some life early on. He landed a high kick that looked like it might slow Dos Anjos. It didn’t. Instead, the Brazilian walked through it, landed a significant strike of his own, then continued to win from top position and against the cage.
Dos Anjos threatened to pry the title from Showtime’s hands in the fourth round. All he needed to do was separate the champion’s hands to lock in a kimura and end the bout. Instead, Pettis survived to fight on and even mount some offense of his own in the clinch; however, it was still RDA’s round yet again.
He tried yet again to end the bout in the fifth round as he took Pettis‘ back and looked for a rear-naked choke. He’d have to wait for the judges to declare him the winner, though.
With the win, Dos Anjos becomes the first Brazilian lightweight champion in the history of the UFC. Leading up to the fight, that was a fact that he was aware could come to fruition.
“I am very excited to be the first lightweight champion from Brazil. The belt has a date to be mine and that will be Saturday. It’s in God’s hands,” Dos Anjos said via Martin Domin of the MailOnline. “It does not bother me to be an underdog. I am an underdog in most of my fights. Maybe it is a good thing for me, he has all the pressure.”
It isn’t likely that Dos Anjos will be a big underdog for the foreseeable future at this rate. RDA was a more than 2-1 underdog against both Benson Henderson and Anthony Pettis in two of his last three fights, per BestFightOdds.com. But each time he overcame those odds to have his hand raised in victory.
That doesn’t mean things will be getting any easier for Dos Anjos, though. The 155-pound division is rife with contenders. A rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov would appear to be on the horizon for the new champ, pending the Russian beating Donald Cerrone at UFC 187.
Given Nurmagomedov‘s decision victory over RDA in April 2014, that’s a matchup with plenty of intrigue. Then there’s the possibility of a rematch with Showtime.
This is the same division that gave us title rematches in Benson Henderson vs. Pettis 2, Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn 2 and Edgar vs. Gray Maynard 2. Pettis‘ exciting style and Dos Anjos championship status might be the perfect recipe for another grudge match between the two down the road.
Regardless of what Joe Silva and Co. decide to do next with the champion, UFC 185 turned out to be all about Rafael dos Anjos. He wasn’t the one that fans expected to see wearing UFC gold at the end of the night, but he became the latest example that anything can happen in the Octagon.
It’s that kind of unpredictability that makes the sport great.
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