Rafael dos Anjos delivered an absolute masterclass at UFC 272. He shut Renato Moicano out for five rounds of the co-main event, and although Moicano rallied in the fifth, RDA was upset not to see Moicano’s team throw in the towel. In fact, Rafael dos Anjos told The MMA Hour that he wants to see more coaches choose safety over victory.
“It drives me nuts because I see guys in boxing, all the time people throw the towel, stop the fight, and we don’t see that in MMA.
RDA: MMA Coaches Refusing To Throw Towel “Drives Me Nuts”
I think because of the small gloves, coaches think, ‘He’s gonna get a lucky punch and finish the fight,’ but I think we should see that more. I think coaches should be more aware, to know their fighters.
They’re not reacting, they’re not connecting anything that really hurts the other guy, so let’s stop it because you’re killing your fighter. I think that’s something that the coaches in MMA should be more aware of.”
It’s a rare fighter that wants to throw in the towel in the face of oblivion, but sustaining needless damage over the course of a fight does the athlete no favors. Last-minute stoppage wins happen – like Anderson Silva finishing Chael Sonnen with a triangle in the closing seconds of a five-round fight – but they are rare
“I told my corner, after the doctor stepped in from the third to the fourth and the fourth to the fifth, they didn’t stop it in the third and I said, ‘They’re gonna stop it for sure.’
But they didn’t. My coaches told me, ‘Just walk around, eat some time, don’t need to take any risks right now. He’s probably gonna try to do some crazy stuff right now.
You’re winning the fight already, don’t take any risks.’ But that’s something that I need to work on, because every time I try to not fight my fight, my style, which is going forward and throwing, I don’t fight well.”
RDA actually took his foot off the gas as the fight wore on, giving Moicano the precise opening he was hoping for in the fifth round. “In that 30 seconds of the fight, I got caught on my eye.
I got caught right inside my eyeball and it really hurt. That was the only punch that I really felt. I managed to finish the fight well, but, I just took my foot off the gas a little bit, knowing that I had the fight, but I got caught on the eye and he came with everything he got on the fifth.”
Should coaches throw in the towel more often? Let us know in the comments.
