In a matchup of two lightweights trying to inch their way into contention, Rafael dos Anjos eked out a narrow victory over Evan Dunham at UFC on FX 8, winning by a unanimous decision.
The judges awarded him the victory with a sweep of 29-28 scores.
The result caused some immediate controversy, as Dunham threw his hands in the air in shock after cage announcer Bruce Buffer gave the official decision.
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Dunham likely figured his takedowns were enough to edge it out given the fairly even action on the feet.
According to FightMetric, Dunham finished with a slight edge in landed strikes, 90-86. dos Anjos, however, landed more strikes in each of the first two rounds, 30-25 in the first and 24-21 in the second. Dunham turned it up in the third, out-landing him 44-32. Dunham also had three takedowns in the fight while dos Anjos was 0-for-2.
Despite that, it was dos Anjos being handed the win, his fourth straight, moving his record to 19-6. He also has victories over Mark Bocek, Anthony Njokuani and Kamal Shalorus during that time.
Dunham fell to 14-4.