Rafael Dos Anjos Picks Donald Cerrone Over John Makdessi
UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos upset the MMA odds makers at UFC 185, dismantling the overwhelmed Anthony Pettis over five gruelling rounds. “”Showtime” had been pegged for P4P greatness until that point, but was made to look rather amateur in the octagon with Dos Anjos.
The Brazilian takes a hold of the division at a time when it’s hardly rife with contenders. With many of the top 10 either not ‘worthy’ of a shot, or tied up with other fights, ‘RDA’ tells MMAFighting.com that he ranks former opponent Donald Cerrone ahead of the rest of the lightweight pack:
“(Cerrone vs Nurmagomedov) was a key fight for the division, a number one contender fight, and I was anxious to watch it. I feel bad for Khabib because he hurt his knee again after being sidelined for a year, I believe Cerrone will win, but if he loses, it is going to shuffle the entire division.”
“Cerrone is a veteran, is coming off seven wins,” dos Anjos said. “He could have just stepped aside and fought for the title already, but he wants to stay active. He has nothing to gain with this fight, he could just wait for the title fight if he wanted.”
For the second time in a year Khabib Nurmagomedov had to withdraw from a fight with Donald Cerrone, and his replacement at UFC 187, John Makdessi, certainly has a mountain to climb. The streaking ‘Cowboy’ is hot property right now, but a win for ‘The Bull’ wouldn’t earn a title shot in Dos Anjos’ eyes:
“No way he’s next, he’s not even ranked,” dos Anjos responded. “A win would put him in the mix. There are other guys in a better position right now. Ben Henderson is coming off a win, and in my opinion he won the fight against Cerrone. We also have Michael Johnson, too.”
“There are a lot of guys, but most of them have fights lined up already,” he continued. “Ben Henderson vs. Michael Johnson could be a number one contender fight too, who knows? (Gilbert) Melendez will fight Eddie Alvarez, but he has three UFC fights and had two title shots already, so I don’t think he deserves another one.””
So with the division somewhat tied up, especially with contenders Anthony Pettis and ‘The Eagle’ sidelined, what’s the plan for ‘RDA’?
“After I return to training at 100 percent, I need 16 weeks to be ready,” he said. “I believe I will be able to fight in late October, early November. I won’t start training for my first title defense if I’m not 100 percent. I did this a lot last year, fought a lot, but I can’t come back if I’m injured.”
It’s likely that Cerrone will want another fight (at least) if he has to wait until November for a title shot, if he gets past Makdessi that is. UFC 187 goes down on May 23rd, and also suffered the setback of losing Jon Jones to his latest saga.
With Rafael Dos Anjos now at the head of the division, who knows what the 155-pound rankings will look when he eventually returns.
