Coach: Conor McGregor Will Be Brutally Welcomed To LW Division
The cats out of the bag, UFC 197 will be epic.
In an interview with Sherdog.com, Kings MMA’s Rafael Cordeiro discussed the upcoming lightweight title fight that will see his fighter and champion Rafael dos Anjos fight featherweight king Conor McGregor at UFC 197 in the main event. According to Cordeiro, he has not got confirmation from the UFC about the fight, but it’s being reported that the fight will be taking place at the event.
With this fight, McGregor will have to move up in weight to fight for his second title. Cordeiro claimed that Anjos is happy about the fight and plans to finish MCGregor in a brutal way.
“We didn’t receive an official 100 percent confirmation from the UFC, but that’s something we’re waiting on,” said Cordeiro. “From our part, it’s already signed. It’s important to make it clear that this was a request from McGregor. Rafael is really happy to ‘welcome’ him in a brutal way to the lightweight division.”
Anjos (25-7) is currently on a five-fight winning streak. In his last six bouts, he’s 5-1. He lost to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC on FOX 11 by unanimous decision. He then ripped off four straight wins over Jason High at UFC Fight Night 42 by second round TKO, Benson Henderson at UFC Fight Night 49 by first round KO, Nate Diaz at UFC on FOX 13 by unanimous decision, and Anthony Pettis at UFC 185 by unanimous decision. He beat Donald Cerrone by first-round TKO at UFC on FOX 17.
McGregor (19-2) is currently on a 15-fight winning streak. In his last six bouts, he beat Max Holloway in August of 2013 by unanimous decision. He was out of action for nearly a year when he returned to knockout Diego Brandao in July of 2014 by first-round TKO then followed it up with a first-round TKO finish of Dustin Poirier at UFC 178 then a second-round TKO win over Dennis Siver in January of 2013. He finished Chad Mendes in the second round at UFC 189. He beat Jose Aldo by first-round knockout at UFC 194.
Cordeiro believes Anjos will beat McGregor because he is coming from a lower weight class and stylistically, McGregor is not on the same level as Anjos.
“It’s a fighter that we truly believe we can beat. He’s coming from a lower division, and he can be sure that he’ll face a strong champion who will not change his style. McGregor has already proven to be a great athlete, but we have five rounds to beat him, and Rafael is coming in hungry to beat him, not only physically but spiritually, and to break his soul inside the Octagon.”
Cordeiro then made a bold statement by predicting that Anjos will finish McGregor.
“I bet Rafael will finish him in a brutal way, the same way he has finished his last fights.”
UFC 197 takes place on March 5 in Las Vegas.
