Rafael dos Anjos dismisses Conor McGregor match; Insists his motivation is UFC belt
During a UFC Vegas 14 media scrum (*video courtesy: MMA Fighting), former UFC Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos answered several notable questions.
One of the multiple questions posed to Dos Anjos was now that he is back in the Lightweight division, would he pursue a fight against UFC megastar Conor McGregor.
Rafael dos Anjos responded to the question by asserting that fighting Conor McGregor isn’t his goal. RDA added that he aims to fight for the UFC title, irrespective of which fighter he has to face to win the gold.
Intriguingly, then-UFC Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos was booked to defend his belt against Conor McGregor at UFC 196 back in 2016, but the fight fell through due to RDA getting injured. On that note, Dos Anjos addressed the question regarding McGregor and stated:
“Just wanna clarify: Conor McGregor is not my goal. I’m not dropping back to lightweight division to fight Conor, you know? He’s not my goal. I want to fight for the belt. Whoever has the belt, I’ll fight. Khabib (Nurmagomedov) leaving the division, I think it’ll leave the division wide open…My focus is one hundred percent on Paul Felder, Saturday.” (*H/T Sportskeeda for the transcription)
Furthermore, Rafael dos Anjos explained that out of the top 4 fighters in the Lightweight division today, excluding Khabib Nurmagomedov, only Dos Anjos and Conor McGregor are former UFC Lightweight champions.
Dos Anjos added that Dustin Poirier and others such as Tony Ferguson and Justin Gaethje have only been interim UFC Lightweight champions and never really won the undisputed title like him and McGregor.
Moreover, RDA also chimed in with his two cents on Conor McGregor’s next fight that’d see the Notorious One take on Dustin Poirier in early 2021.
Dos Anjos noted that Conor McGregor is a great striker and added that the Poirier fight is a good matchup for McGregor.
Rafael dos Anjos is in a unique position ahead of his Lightweight return
Rafael dos Anjos is a former undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion. After losing his title to Eddie Alvarez and then being beaten by Tony Ferguson, moved up to the Welterweight division.
RDA initially won three consecutive fights at Welterweight, beating noteworthy opponents such as Tarec Saffiedine, Neil Magny, and former Division Champion, Robbie Lawler.
Dos Anjos then competed for the interim UFC Welterweight title against Colby Covington but was beaten by Chaos via unanimous decision.
Following the loss to Covington, Dos Anjos suffered a defeat at the hands of Kamaru Usman but then bounced back with a win over Kevin Lee.
Regardless, back-to-back losses to Leon Edwards and Michael Chiesa respectively have now resulted in Dos Anjos moving back to the Lightweight division and attempting to regain the title he once owned.
Do you see Rafael dos Anjos beating Paul Felder in their lightweight bout? Do you see RDrecapturing the UFC lightweight championship? Sound off in the comments.