Khabib Nurmagomedov should change his name to Nostradamus after prophesying that Rafael dos Anjos would wipe the floor with UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis at UFC 185.
“I think [Dos Anjos] smashes [Pettis] in striking, and I think he smashes him on the ground,” Nurmagomedov said in an interview with Marc Raimondi of MMAFighting.com.
Before Saturday night, when Dos Anjos defeated Pettis by unanimous decision, those comments were seen as absurd to the highest levels. “Showtime” Pettis, Mr. Wheaties himself, had lived his career inside the Matrix, pulling off maneuvers that would make Morpheus reexamine his idea of “The One.”
People were already talking about superfights with Jose Aldo and Conor McGregor, despite Pettis only having one successful UFC title defense on his resume. That’s how good this guy is.
Yet Dos Anjos, the most unlikely of contenders, would be the one to unravel everything, reminding MMA fans that paper-laden predictions would be better used as toilet paper.
Just as Nurmagomedov predicted, Dos Anjos smashed Pettis in the stand-up and on the ground in Saturday’s main event. In hindsight, the bout was so lopsided that it’s hard to even consider it an upset.
Perhaps the only thing upsetting was the fact that nearly everyone overlooked Dos Anjos, even those giving him a slight chance to pull off the unthinkable. Very few saw that kind of performance coming.
After the fight, Nurmagomedov took some time to gloat over his prediction on Twitter:
Nurmagomedov defeated Dos Anjos by unanimous decision nearly a year ago at UFC on Fox 11. He is expected to fight Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in May to determine the next contender for the UFC title.
The future title picture hinges on the health of Dos Anjos, who admitted to fighting on a torn MCL during the UFC 185 post-fight press conference.
Jordy McElroy is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon and FanRag Sports.
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