Rafael dos Anjos took the UFC lightweight title from Anthony Pettis with an eerie ease at UFC 185, relentlessly pressuring Showtime and taking a unanimous 50-45 decision win. While immediate rematches have been par for the lightweight championship course, however, it seems like a new challenger will get a crack at the belt next.
Speaking at the UFC 185 post-fight press conference, UFC President Dana White speculated that the next challenge for the newly minted champion would be the winner of the UFC 187 bout between Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone and Khabib Nurmagomedov:
White confirms the winner of Khabib and Cerrone will be next for title shot. However, depends on health of Dos Anjos
— Jason Floyd (@Jason_Floyd) March 15, 2015
Cerrone and Nurmagomedov already own resumes deserving of UFC lightweight title bouts. Cerrone is riding an impressive seven-fight winning streak dating back to 2013, with four of those victories coming via stoppage. Nurmagomedov, on the other hand, owns a career 22-0 record (with six wins in the UFC) and has been utterly dominant to this point in his career.
Both men have actually fought dos Anjos before. Cerrone was unable to overcome an early deficit in his 2013 bout with dos Anjos and lost via a unanimous 29-28 decision. Nurmagomedov, on the other hand, defeated dos Anjos in 2014 in dominant fashion, taking the Brazilian down repeatedly en route to a unanimous 30-27 decision win. Nurmagomedov likely would have been the one to face Pettis at UFC 185 had a knee injury not shelved him for nearly a year.
All that said, dos Anjos and his manager, Ali Abdel-Aziz, revealed that he had sustained a partial MCL tear just a few weeks ahead of the event. While dos Anjos speculated that he would not need surgery, all sports fans know how troublesome knee injuries can be. Fans (and fighters) will just need to keep their fingers crossed in regards to the champ’s health.
Keep an eye on Bleacher Report for more news as it breaks.
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