Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
Rafael dos Anjos would love to rematch Colby Covington.
Rafael dos Anjos knows a thing or two about broken jaws, which is why the Brazilian is sympathetic towards Colby Covington following his crushing TKO loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC 245 last weekend, where Usman is reported to have broke ‘Chaos’s’ jaw in the third round.
Dos Anjos also suffered a broken jaw in the third round of his lightweight matchup with Clay Guida back in 2010 and, rather than retire, RDA went on to reinvent himself as one of the best fighters in the world by capturing the official UFC lightweight title almost five years later at UFC 185.
Dos Anjos knows how devastating — and potentially career-threatening — a broken jaw can be, which is why the MMA veteran has urged Covington to tough it out and keep fighting following his loss to Usman.
Speaking to AG Fight in a recent interview (h/t BJPenn.com) dos Anjos, who dropped a unanimous decision to Covington last year at UFC 225, said he would love to welcome the former interim welterweight champ back to the Octagon after Covington has recovered from injury.
“Absolutely [a rematch against Colby matters for 2020]. I’ve had this injury too, I don’t know the severity, but you have to have a lot of head to come back. I hope he really fights back, doesn’t retire, because it’s an injury I’ve seen retire people out there,” he explained. “It’s something I don’t even want for my worst enemy. But let’s see.
“It’s six months to go back to training, I remember how I got. Six months is just to retrain. It took me about ten months to fight again, a year almost to fight again. But it sure is a fight that interests me. It was [in the fight against Clay Guida that I got hurt]. It was terrible, worse thing, I don’t wish for my worst enemy.”
Dos Anjos, who recently dropped a decision loss to British welterweight Leon Edwards, is expected to return to the cage against Michael Chiesa at UFC Fight Night 166. The ESPN+ event will take place next year, Jan. 25 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina.