Rafael Dos Anjos Confident He Will Win Convincingly
Brazilian UFC Lightweight Rafael dos Anjos is currently finding great form, riding a four fight win streak and scheduled to face Donald Cerrone at tonight’s UFN 27. After wins over Evan Dunham, Mark Bocek, Anthony Njokuani and Kamal Shalarous, a win against Cerrone would cement Dos Anjos’ legitimacy as a contender.
Dos Anjos was on hand to talk with MMAFighting.com, regarding his MMA career:
“This is my 13th fight in the UFC, and I had to overcome a lot of things to get here, I wasn’t well when I first fought here, but I worked hard and won three in a row after my first losses.”
After losing to Jeremy Stephens by KO in his UFC debut, Dos Anjos was lucky to be kept around after he lost his second UFC bout to Tyson Griffin. As it turned out, he has made quite an impression.
“After that I decided to move to the U.S., I won four in a row,” he said. “When you live outside of Brazil you focus only in training. When I moved to California, I started to live just to work. I focus better in training now. It was good for me, but it was tough because I have a wife and two kids. It’s another language, another culture. After all those years we now have good friends here, so life is getting better now. Now that she has more friends, a better social life, I can focus more in my training.”
Before joining the UFC, Dos Anjos had competed solely in Brazil (barring one fight in Japan), and had racked up 11 wins along with two losses heading in to his UFC debut. Currently set to face a stern test in Cerrone, Dos Anjos is confident in his skill set.
“This is one of the toughest fights of my career,” he said. “But I’ve fought some tough guys and sometimes the games don’t match and you can win easily. I will win this convincingly. I don’t want people talking about it like after my last fight. This is going to be my fifth win in a row, and I’m getting closer to the title. My time will come. I’m training hard, I’m not playing here.”
“I had the perfect training camp, I’m really excited for this fight,” he said. “I’m confident. I know my time is coming. He’s a tough guy, but that’s what I want. I want to prove that I have what it takes to get to the title. I worked hard for this fight, my family depends on this and so do I.”
A very interesting matchup, one that I hope can deliver some fireworks, as well as some top level grappling.
