Islam Makhachev vs. Rafael dos Anjos made official and added to UFC 267
A lightweight bout between Islam Makhachev and Rafael dos Anjos has been added to UFC 267, which will take place on October 30, 2021. ESPN's Brett Okamoto first revealed the news.
The fight between Makhachev and dos Anjos has been in the offing for quite some time now. The two were initially scheduled to fight on two occasions last year, with both bookings falling through.
The matchup was first scheduled for October 2020 but had to be scrapped when RDA contracted COVID-19. It was rescheduled for November, but this time Islam Makhachev was forced to withdraw owing to an injury.
Rafael Dos Anjos claims that Islam Makhachev opted out of a five-round fight
Ten days before the fight between Islam Makhachev and Rafael dos Anjos was made official, RDA took to Twitter to announce that Makhachev had agreed to fight him. However, that was not the only detail mentioned in the tweet.
RDA's post read:
"I just heard back from the UFC that Islam accepted to fight me Oct 30 5 rounds in Abu Dhabi and Khabib agreed to come out of retirement to avenge his brother’s loss after that."
While part of the announcement turned out to be true, it was the other detail mentioned in the tweet that surprised the world of combat sports.
Obviously, Khabib Nurmagomedov is unlikely to return to avenge Islam Makhachev's loss to RDA if that does happen. Moreover, RDA told ESPN that he had rallied for a five-round fight, but Islam Makhachev chose to go for a three-rounder instead.
Islam Makahchev's manager and Dominance MMA CEO Ali Abdelaziz denied RDA's claims stating that the UFC never offered a five-round fight. He said:
"The UFC offered a three-round fight and Islam said yes. We don't care about the number of rounds -- it's no problem. The UFC asked for this, and this is what the UFC got. I'm looking at this as a No. 1 contender's match. The winner should fight for the title."
The fight between Rafael dos Anjos and Islam Makhachev is coming to fruition at an interesting time; Makhachev is on a meteoric rise, and Rafael dos Anjos is arguably in the twilight of his career. That said, both men are looking to get into lightweight title contention.
Who do you think will get their hand raised at UFC 267? Cast your predictions in the comments!