Rafael dos Anjos breaks down “boring” but “tough” fight against Islam Makhachev at UFC 267
Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos broke down his upcoming “boring” but “tough” fight against Islam Makhachev at UFC 267.
Dos Anjos and Makhachev have been previously scheduled to meet twice in 2020, but the fight fell apart both times. Now, with both men firmly entrenched in the top-10 of the UFC lightweight division and hoping to get closer to a title shot against UFC champion Charles Oliveira, the matchmakers re-booked this fight, and the winner could potentially be in line for the belt.
Speaking to Combate in a recent interview, dos Anjos was asked to break down his upcoming fight with Makhachev, and the Brazilian did his best to explain how the matchup will go.
“He’s a tough guy. It’s going to be a boring fight, it’s going to be a tough fight. I think that just the fact that he runs the five rounds with me tells me a little about his strategy. This was something I prioritized. I said I don’t have any problem, because he keeps saying I was running from the fight. I’m not running, I signed. I’ve been willing to fight him twice, the fight didn’t happen, but this time I wanted to fight five rounds. But he put his foot down, that he wanted to fight three rounds. He didn’t accept five. So that already tells me a lot about what his strategy will be. He’s going to come to stop the fight, make a truncated fight there, but we’ll get there with a firm game for that, to push the pace of the fight,” dos Anjos said. “He’s a tough guy. He’s Russian, and a Russian fighter is usually tough, has a heavy hand, there’s going to be a boring wrestling game, probably with good ground control. But I have my weapons sharpened, I’ve already trained for him and I know more or less what’s waiting for me. We already have everything at the tip of the pencil, his strongest blows, his strongest takedowns. Everything was already scheduled a year ago and now we’re just going to remember, go over our homework and get there firmly to achieve this victory.”
Who do you think wins the lightweight bout between Rafael dos Anjos and Islam Makhachev at UFC 267?
