Brazilian and Team Blackhouse fighter, Rafael dos Anjos (15-6) has his next Octagon appearance set for May 15, 2012 in Virginia where he is scheduled to face Kamal Shalorus at the UFC on FUEL TV 3 event.
Shalorus is a noted wrestler who has also competed in several competitive grappling tournaments.
For ‘The Prince of Persia’, Dos Anjos wants to round out his fight game training wrestling with UFC middleweight Mark Munoz, but the Brazilian wants to round out his “Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai” so he is headed to the Evolve MMA gym in Singapore to join fighters such as DREAM champion Shinya Aoki.
Dos Anjos spoke to Tatame.com about the upcoming trip.
“I’m training hard in Los Angeles where I do my prep. In two weeks I’ll go to Singapore and I’ll only be back in April. I like training there before my presentations because there’re good guys at Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai. Aoki is there and there’re wrestlers too. I had never had the opportunity to train with Aoki, this is my first time. He’s a top 10 in this division. It’s good to learn from his experiences. It’ll be nice”, said the Brazilian athlete, who will bring his coach Roberto Gordo to the United States.
“Coach Gordo shall get to the United States a month before the fight to help me on the game plan and the ground game. He’s essential in that way. I’ve been training Wrestling with Mark Munoz, who welcomed me here. I’m training really hard and I’ll focus on my ground game, but I’m comfortable to stand-up and with the takedowns. I’m also going to strike. And on the ground is best to be on top. I want to put on a good fight”.
Dos Anjos will enter the bout on a split decision loss to Gleison Tibau last November at UFC 139 and is 1-2 in his last three bouts. The Brazilian earned a quick knockout win over George Sotiropoulos in July of last year at UFC 132.
The Evolve MMA gym is Asia’s biggest academy for martial arts and is based out of Singapore with a training facility in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The gym is affiliated with the Renzo Gracie Academy and Sityodtong Muay Thai.