Rafael Dos Anjos: After I Beat Diaz, I’m Asking For My Title Shot
UFC lightweight contender Rafael Dos Anjos will collide with Nate Diaz at this weekend’s (December 13th, 2014) UFC on FOX 13. The co-main event slot will be Dos Anjos’ fourth fight of 2014, and he’ll be looking to end the year with a 3-1 tally. His last outing was a shock KO win over former champion and #1 of the time Benson Henderson, and that was RDA’s first headlining fight, back in August.
Talking to FOX Sports, Dos Anjos acknowledges that the Henderson win was a game changer, as far as his title aspirations are concerned:
“It was really good to beat Ben Henderson that way. He was No. 1 at the time and I was No. 5 so it was a big step forward for me, for my career. Nobody finished Ben Henderson before like that and I knocked him out.”
It was certainly a huge upset as far as the bookies were concerned, and Dos Anjos’ stock rose massively from his milestone victory over “Smooth”. So it was somewhat surprising when the Brazilian was matched with the formerly absent and unranked Nate Diaz, for his return bout.
“I got a little surprised because he was off for a year,” dos Anjos said. “He’s a tough opponent, he fought for the title already. I want to keep active so when they called me to fight Nate Diaz, I agreed because I wanted to stay active. I got a little surprised because he was out so long, but he’s a tough opponent.”
“He’s a dangerous fighter and he’s got a long reach so I have to stay out of his reach. I can’t play that game. The fight will be good because he comes forward and that will be good,” dos Anjos said. “”My Muay Thai skills will make the difference. I think I have more weapons than him. My wrestling is better. My jiu-jitsu is better. My Muay Thai is better as well.”
The two are certainly an interesting match as far as styles are concerned, but is Rafael Dos Anjos at an advantage as he says? Diaz will have the trouble of fighting a much more active foe than he has been, but cage rust has been much less of a factor with the modern way of training.
“I want to finish this fight. I don’t want to win by decision because after this fight if I knock him out that’s going to be three knockouts in a row,” dos Anjos said. “I want to ask for my title shot because I’m the only Brazilian who got in this position and I really want to bring this belt to Brazil.
“The only guy in front of me is Khabib (Nurmagomedov), but he’s hurt right now. I think I’m the No. 1 contender right now. After I beat Nate Diaz, I’m going to ask for my title shot.”
Big talk by Rafael Dos Anjos, but can he back it up on fight night?
