Legendary UFC lightweight Rafael dos Anjos is thoroughly unimpressed with his fellow 155 pounders. Specifically, in an interview with MMAFighting, RDA promised that he won’t run away from “Do Bronx” and his formidable jiu-jitsu when he gets his chance.
“He’s on his moment. Fighters, it’s all about the mentality. [Charles Oliveira has] got his mental [attitude] on point, and he’s very confident, but we all know he has been knocked out in his fights, and he quit a couple of times. But he’s on his moment right now. He’s very confident. He’s on a good win streak.”
RDA Blasts “Desperate” Lightweights Unable To Compete With Charles Oliveira
RDA continued, citing examples of fighters he views as afraid of the deposed champ. “I think guys knock him down, and they run away from his guard. I’m going to take the opportunity to be in his guard and punish him from the top. I think that would make a huge difference. These guys they knock him down, but they don’t capitalize on it.
If you see when he took [Dustin] Poirier down, [Poirier] just grabbed him and tried to eat the time. It looked like he was desperate while he was on bottom. I play well on the bottom. I’m a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, and I know how to control the wrist and how to be calm on the bottom. With [Justin] Gaethje, he gave the back right away, and once you get in the scrambles and these guys give their back right away, that’s how Charles is good.
He’s very good to take the back and submit people from the back,” dos Anjos explained. “I fought great guys that take backs very well, and they never took my back. I fought Michael Chiesa, Kevin Lee, even [Renato] Moicano, [and] they got close, but I know how to defend myself.
These guys, they kind of get desperate and they give their back right away and that’s when you get choked.” First, however, RDA needs to get through Rafael Fiziev.
“I’m going to pass Fiziev, I’m going to finish him, I can tell you that. After that, I don’t see any other fight. I’m going to sit down and I’m not going to be fighting these [up and coming] guys.
That’s the main point that I want to show in this fight against Fiziev. Not taking him for granted, he’s tough but I don’t want to be fighting these up and coming guys. I’m a high level fighter. I’m a championship fighter. I’m going to show that July 9 and I’m going to sit down and I’m going to wait to see how everything is going to play out. I want to fight for the title by the end of the year.”
Is RDA right about the other lightweights, or is he missing something about Do Bronx’s game? Let us know in the comments.
