Tag: RDA

RDA Wants In On Potential UFC 165-Pound Division

UFC fighters continue to campaign for a 165-pound weight class.

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Rafael dos Anjos is on board with the UFC adding another weight class.

For so long the mixed martial arts (MMA) community has debated on whether or not the UFC should add more divisions. It seems that on the fighters’ side of things, they’d prefer more options as to what weight they can fight.

Fighters such as Kevin Lee, Dustin Poirier, and now, Rafael dos Anjos would like a weight class in between 155 and 170 pounds. “RDA” took to Twitter recently and said he’s down for a 165-pound weight class in the UFC:

“If make 165lbs division you can count on me for that run.”

This comes several days out from Dustin Poirier making a rather interesting proposition. He and Nate Diaz will meet at UFC 230 in November. The card is missing a main event, however. Poirier attempted to elevate himself.

He suggested on Twitter that he and Diaz compete for the inaugural 165-pound title in their fight. Given there are no stars available to headline UFC 230 (or so we’re told), and Diaz is a big name, adding a title to Diaz vs. Poirier is certainly main event-worthy.

That hype only got taken to a new level last night when Diaz claimed he was fighting for the new 165-pound title and Poirier reiterate it. UFC President Dana White rebuffed that notion – for now.

The UFC has shown little interest in implementing new weight classes, however, it’s an interesting possibility given the current state of UFC 230’s card.

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Manager Shoots Down Reports Of RDA vs. Usman

A high-profile welterweight match reportedly isn’t happening – yet. Word broke today (Wed., September 12, 2018) from Combate that recent interim title challenger Rafael dos Anjos would take on surging contender Kamaru Usman at November 30’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 28 Finale from the Pearl Theatre at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The […]

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A high-profile welterweight match reportedly isn’t happening – yet.

Word broke today (Wed., September 12, 2018) from Combate that recent interim title challenger Rafael dos Anjos would take on surging contender Kamaru Usman at November 30’s The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 28 Finale from the Pearl Theatre at the Palms Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The bout was supposed to headline the event, however, Usman’s manager Ali Abdelaziz replied on Twitter that he heard no word of the fight:

Former lightweight champ dos Anjos was last seen losing an interim title bout to Colby Covington in the co-main event of June’s UFC 225. He had previously been on quite the tear since moving up to welterweight, winning three straights bouts at 170 pounds.

Meanwhile, the dominant Usman was last seen dominating former title contender Demian Maia in a lackluster unanimous decision win in Santiago, Chile, this May. The 17-1 contender has won all eight of his UFC match-ups since debuting as the TUF 21 champion in 2015.

We’ll keep you updated on this potential match-up.

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RDA Explains Why He Won’t Fight Santiago Ponzinibbio In Argentina

This would be an excellent match-up.

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Rafael dos Anjos doesn’t want to fight Santiago Ponzinibbio in Argentina right now.

The former UFC lightweight champion comes off an interim welterweight title loss to Colby Covington. The locations of his last few fights have left him frustrated. The Brazilian has fought in countries such as Canada, Singapore, and Mexico in the past two years.

He had his first fight in two years back in the United States in June against Covington. “RDA” is more than willing to get back into the cage but on his terms. Dos Anjos told MMA Junkie his wife is currently pregnant with their third child.

She is expected to give birth next month. As a result, “RDA” would like to remain relatively close to home:

“I don’t care who I fight, but I just don’t want to leave my family,” dos Anjos said. “I think my family is first, I can’t leave a young kid with my wife alone here.

“She’s going to get a C-section, so she’s going to need help. I’m the man. I need to be here supporting my wife and my family. That’s my job, and I’m not going to leave my family to fight in another country and fight far away from home.”

Recently, “RDA” was called out by welterweight prospect Santiago Ponzinibbio to a fight in his backyard of Argentina. When dos Anjos was called and offered the fight with Ponzinibbio in Argentina by matchmaker Sean Shelby, the Brazilian had to draw the line:

“When (UFC matchmaker) Sean Shelby called me to offer that fight, my first question was, ‘Where?’ I didn’t even ask him who I’m going to be fighting,” dos Anjos said.

“He goes, ‘Argentina.’ I said, ‘Sean, last year I fought two times in Canada, I fought in Singapore, and one time here in the U.S. I want to stay around, especially on that date – not because it’s Santiago Ponzinibbio.”

Dos Anjos believes Ponzinibbio is drumming up drama. He simply doesn’t want to take a long flight due to the birth of his child:

“(Ponzinibbio is) making a big drama saying that I’m afraid to fight him in Argentina. No, I’m not afraid. I told him to come to my gym – we’ll fight here. We’ll fight in Las Vegas.

“I’m not afraid of that guy. I just don’t want to take an 18-hour flight. Even in Brazil – I don’t want to fight in Brazil. It’s too far. I don’t want to take a 15- or 16-hour flight to leave my family for that long. I want to fight in the U.S. That’s what I said.”

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RDA Open To Welcome “Irish Boy” Conor McGregor To Welterweight

Could McGregor being going after another division title?

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Yesterday (Wed. June 6, 2018) news broke that Conor McGregor was originally scheduled to make his Octagon return at the UFC 224 pay-per-view (PPV) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil last month.

McGregor made this revelation in an Instagram post in which he was celebrating his 4th place ranking on Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Athletes For 2018 list. MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani reports that Rafael dos Anjos was supposed to fight McGregor for the interim welterweight title at the event.

RDA is scheduled to take on Colby Covington for the interim welterweight championship in the co-main event of UFC 225 on pay-per-view (PPV) Saturday night (June 9, 2018). In a recent interview with Helwani, dos Anjos revealed that the UFC never directly contacted him about the fight with McGregor:

“Yeah, actually UFC didn’t contact me to talk about that fight at all,” dos Anjos said. “Everything that I’ve heard is from other people, other sources. But myself, the UFC didn’t contact me to talk about that fight. Not even once. I saw rumors, but nothing directly about the fight.”

If McGregor does decide to jump up to 170 pounds and go after his third-ever division title, and RDA is the champion, he’s more than willing to welcome the “Irish boy”  to the welterweight division:

“If the Irish boy wants to try his third belt, I’ll be there,” said RDA. “I’m sure I will win. I have no doubts in my mind. I come this far on this. I had a good run at lightweight and now I went to welterweight and I’ve been having a good run. I have everything that it takes to win Saturday night. If he wants to make history, get his third belt, I’ll be there.”

Initially McGregor and dos Anjos were scheduled to face off against each other at UFC 196 in March of 2016. RDA was the then-lightweight champion and McGregor, then the featherweight champion, was looking to become the first-ever dual-weight champion in UFC history.

Unfortunately, RDA suffered a foot injury and was forced to pull out of the fight. Nate Diaz would step in to fight The Notorious One and start one of the biggest rivalries in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. Dos Anjos said he was extremely frustrated after pulling out of the fight, as he had never had to before in 37 professional fights up to that point:

“Oh yeah, I got really frustrated because I didn’t make it to the fight,” he said. “Not because it was a big money fight, nothing of that nature, just because I didn’t fight. I had 37 professional fights and I had never pulled out of a fight due to injury, and that was the first fight. I was really disappointed because of it. Then after that a lot of things happened; I switched camps, I lost my belt, I passed through a very bad moment, but I’m raising again.”

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Colby Covington Cancels Joe Rogan Slap-A-Thon

Rogan can sleep easy tonight:

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Joe Rogan can sleep easy tonight knowing “Chaos” Colby Covington isn’t seeking to slap him anymore.

Earlier this year Rogan warned Covington on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, that he shouldn’t talk trash about fighters like Jon Jones because he may come face-to-face with them one day:

Covington didn’t like that comment and then threatened to slap Rogan for what he said:

“I think Joe Rogan should worry about what he’s saying about me because we might just meet face to face soon in the near future. He might be commentating that Chicago card, so that’s kind of hypocritical of him to say something like that because when he’s talking about me, we might be face to face. I might just have to slap him.”

When it was announced that Rogan would be in Chicago for this weekend’s UFC 225 pay-per-view (PPV) card, Covington promised to confront The Voice Of The UFC. Many fans have been wondering whether or not Covington would actually slap Rogan, and it appears we now have our answer.

Recently appearing on an episode of UFC Tonight, speaking to Michael Bisping and Kenny Florian, Covington announced that he has dropped the matter and will give Rogan a pass (quotes via MMA Mania):

“I’ve decided to let things go with Joe. I decided to give him a pass. I’m feeling good, I’m in the spirit,” Covington said. “It’s title fight week, I’m about to make a lot of money with more zeroes to my paycheck, so I am feeling good. I’m going to give Joe a pass.”

Covington has bigger fish to fry. He challenges former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos for the interim welterweight championship in the co-main event of UFC 225 this Saturday (June 9, 2018) in Chicago.

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Details Of Conor McGregor’s Supposed UFC 224 Return Emerge

We now know more about Conor McGregor’s rumored agreement to fight at UFC 224.

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Earlier today (Wed., June 6, 2018) former UFC featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor took to Twitter to react to making Forbes’ World’s Highest-Paid Athletes For 2018 list.

He took to Instagram to claim that he believes he could’ve moved up from the No. 4-spot, surpassing soccer mega-stars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, to take No. 2 had he fought at UFC 224 last month in Brazil – like he had agreed to do:

McGregor hasn’t fought in the UFC since November of 2016 when he defeated Eddie Alvarez for the 155-pound title. He returned to combat sports action last August to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the boxing ring, a fight he lost via tenth-round TKO.

Mixed martial arts (MMA) fans have been patiently waiting on The Notorious One’s Octagon return, and it looks like he could’ve made it in Brazil last month.

As per McGregor’s Instagram post, he suggests he was set to return in Rio De Janeiro at UFC 224 but didn’t name his supposed opponent.

MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani reports that the opponent likely would’ve been Rafael dos Anjos and the interim welterweight title would’ve been on the line:

Ultimately this fight did not happen as McGregor would cause a massive scene during fight week at UFC 223 in Brooklyn. The Irishman stormed a parking lot alongside his entourage and assaulted fighter buses that were carrying competitors on the PPV card.

He even threw a dolly at a bus, which shattered a window and injured several fighters inside. This act was in retaliation for now-UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov confronting McGregor’s good friend and teammate, Artem Lobov, at the designated fighter hotel earlier that week.

Three fights from UFC 223 were canceled as a result. McGregor was subsequently arrested for his actions and has since been released.

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