The Striking Rebirth of Rafael Dos Anjos
By Jack Slack
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Rafael dos Anjos' shot at UFC gold has hardly been hotly anticipated. In fact, the feeling is that he is standing in for Khabib Nurmagomedov, the tremendous Dagestani wrestler who bested Dos Anjos in April 2014. It is Nurmagomedov who is though to bring the questions for which UFC lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, may struggle to find answers.
And that is why Rafael dos Anjos is such a curiosity. He's almost forgotten in plain sight. If anyone can throw a spanner in the works of a long-term plan, it's an overlooked underdog.
Since arriving in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2008, Dos Anjos has taken part in an astonishing seventeen UFC bouts. Compare that to champion, Anthony Pettis' handful of UFC fights, and it seems weird to think that Pettis is a name familiar to even the most casual of MMA fans, while RDA seems to be coming into this contest as the unknown.
And you know what? It's my job to watch UFC events, and I'm still surprised as I look back through Dos Anjos' record to note how many of his fights I have seen but didn't remember until prompted. Compared to a standard UFC career, Dos Anjos has been around forever, and he's fought a murderer's row of opponents in the UFC's most stacked division. Yet seven years and seventeen fights later, Dos Anjos seems to finally be hitting his stride.
A Knockout Debut
Rafael dos Anjos made his first appearance in the UFC back in 2008, while riding a nine fight winning streak. Against Jeremy Stephens, Dos Anjos seemed exactly as advertised, a one dimensional Jiu Jitsu fighter.
Pulling his head straight back every time Stephens twitched, running himself dangerously close to the fence as he circled the ring, and shooting takedowns like this:
But as soon as Dos Anjos got a hold of Stephens, the fight shifted in the opposite direction. The two fighters were a class apart as Stephens attempted to survive as Dos Anjos crawled all over him. After two rounds of Stephens just surviving on the ground, Dos Anjos backed onto the fence, ate a Looney Tunes-esque uppercut, and was left on the wrong end of one of the most spectacular knockouts of the year.
Half a year later, Dos Anjos dropped a decision to UFC lightweight veteran, Tyson Griffin to bring his UFC record to 0-2. Taking a step down in competition Dos Anjos rebounded with a streak of three wins—Robert Emerson, Kyle Bradley, and Terry Etim—before meeting Clay Guida and suffering one of the weirdest finishes in MMA history.
In fairness to Guida, he looked as good as he ever had. He got the better of many of the exchanges of the feet and, in the course of it, injured Dos Anjos' jaw. Dos Anjos continued but got stuck on the bottom, attempting to endure the Shoulder of Justice as Clay Guida looked to pass his half guard. Eventually the pain became too much and we were treated to the bizarre sight of a fighter seemingly submitting to the force of Guida's legendary stalling tactic, shoulder strikes.
Another win and loss later and we were all becoming comfortable with the idea that Dos Anjos would forever be an also ran. A skilled and impressive fighter, and one of the best in the world at lightweight, but never really top ten material in that shark tank of a division.
But fighting, more than any other sport, has a weird way of misrepresenting a person's potential (just ask fellow UFC 185 fighter, Alistair Overeem). When we didn't think Dos Anjos had anything more to give, he suddenly built a streak of five wins over legitimate competition. And this wasn't just one of those weird coincidences, or meeting five guys he happened to be a horrible stylistic match up for, there was genuine improvement in Dos Anjos' game.
His footwork had improved, he had stopped pulling back at the waist, he began moving his head on the way in and on the way out. Where before he had used his kicks as his only weapon on the feet, now he built off of the expectation of them. And most of all, he didn't seem scared to get hit—as he had early on—nor overly eager to brawl, as had got him into trouble against Guida.
Against Donald Cerrone, Dos Anjos looked measured but sprinkled in the aggression when necessary. Perhaps one of Dos Anjos' most memorable moments came as he used a simple low-high to catch the lightweight striking savant clean. Notice that Cerrone's lead hand goes to Dos Anjos' to check it, but as Dos Anjos lands the left hook to the body, he swings his right hand low to escape Cerrone's hand fighting dominance. Cerrone's lead hand remains outstretched as Dos Anjos' lead hook circles in behind it.
The pinnacle of Dos Anjos' career so far was undoubtedly when he scored a knockout win over former UFC lightweight champion, Benson Henderson. Both men looked crisp with their striking but when RDA got Henderosn to the fence, he took a page out of Anthony Pettis' book by attacking Henderson with a jumping knee.
If you review Henderson's first bout with Pettis, Pettis is constantly trying to place Henderson on the fence, then he will wait for Henderson to react. Often Henderson would try to fight his way out or shoot a takedown, and Pettis would attempt to hit him with a counter strike.
RDA's knee looked solid, and as Henderson jumped back up out of his takedown attempt, he was hit with a left hook that floored him. The stoppage might have seemed a little early, but you can't fault how Dos Anjos got there, he'd looked remarkably sharp on the feet.
Dos Anjos' most recent fight was against the returning Nate Diaz, and frankly that is starting to become an easy fight for men who can grapple, low kick, and understand how move their feet. It was a one-sided beatdown as Diaz continued his grand tradition of getting knocked over by low kicks and still refusing to check them.
And that's how we got here. It took seven years and seventeen fights, and it never, ever seemed likely, but Rafael dos Anjos is fighting for the UFC lightweight title. So now to the important question.
Does He Have a Chance?
Continue reading here:
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/the-striking-rebirth-of-rafael-dos-anjos
By Jack Slack
Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Rafael dos Anjos' shot at UFC gold has hardly been hotly anticipated. In fact, the feeling is that he is standing in for Khabib Nurmagomedov, the tremendous Dagestani wrestler who bested Dos Anjos in April 2014. It is Nurmagomedov who is though to bring the questions for which UFC lightweight champion, Anthony Pettis, may struggle to find answers.
And that is why Rafael dos Anjos is such a curiosity. He's almost forgotten in plain sight. If anyone can throw a spanner in the works of a long-term plan, it's an overlooked underdog.
Since arriving in the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2008, Dos Anjos has taken part in an astonishing seventeen UFC bouts. Compare that to champion, Anthony Pettis' handful of UFC fights, and it seems weird to think that Pettis is a name familiar to even the most casual of MMA fans, while RDA seems to be coming into this contest as the unknown.
And you know what? It's my job to watch UFC events, and I'm still surprised as I look back through Dos Anjos' record to note how many of his fights I have seen but didn't remember until prompted. Compared to a standard UFC career, Dos Anjos has been around forever, and he's fought a murderer's row of opponents in the UFC's most stacked division. Yet seven years and seventeen fights later, Dos Anjos seems to finally be hitting his stride.
A Knockout Debut
Rafael dos Anjos made his first appearance in the UFC back in 2008, while riding a nine fight winning streak. Against Jeremy Stephens, Dos Anjos seemed exactly as advertised, a one dimensional Jiu Jitsu fighter.
Pulling his head straight back every time Stephens twitched, running himself dangerously close to the fence as he circled the ring, and shooting takedowns like this:
But as soon as Dos Anjos got a hold of Stephens, the fight shifted in the opposite direction. The two fighters were a class apart as Stephens attempted to survive as Dos Anjos crawled all over him. After two rounds of Stephens just surviving on the ground, Dos Anjos backed onto the fence, ate a Looney Tunes-esque uppercut, and was left on the wrong end of one of the most spectacular knockouts of the year.
Half a year later, Dos Anjos dropped a decision to UFC lightweight veteran, Tyson Griffin to bring his UFC record to 0-2. Taking a step down in competition Dos Anjos rebounded with a streak of three wins—Robert Emerson, Kyle Bradley, and Terry Etim—before meeting Clay Guida and suffering one of the weirdest finishes in MMA history.
In fairness to Guida, he looked as good as he ever had. He got the better of many of the exchanges of the feet and, in the course of it, injured Dos Anjos' jaw. Dos Anjos continued but got stuck on the bottom, attempting to endure the Shoulder of Justice as Clay Guida looked to pass his half guard. Eventually the pain became too much and we were treated to the bizarre sight of a fighter seemingly submitting to the force of Guida's legendary stalling tactic, shoulder strikes.
Another win and loss later and we were all becoming comfortable with the idea that Dos Anjos would forever be an also ran. A skilled and impressive fighter, and one of the best in the world at lightweight, but never really top ten material in that shark tank of a division.
But fighting, more than any other sport, has a weird way of misrepresenting a person's potential (just ask fellow UFC 185 fighter, Alistair Overeem). When we didn't think Dos Anjos had anything more to give, he suddenly built a streak of five wins over legitimate competition. And this wasn't just one of those weird coincidences, or meeting five guys he happened to be a horrible stylistic match up for, there was genuine improvement in Dos Anjos' game.
His footwork had improved, he had stopped pulling back at the waist, he began moving his head on the way in and on the way out. Where before he had used his kicks as his only weapon on the feet, now he built off of the expectation of them. And most of all, he didn't seem scared to get hit—as he had early on—nor overly eager to brawl, as had got him into trouble against Guida.
Against Donald Cerrone, Dos Anjos looked measured but sprinkled in the aggression when necessary. Perhaps one of Dos Anjos' most memorable moments came as he used a simple low-high to catch the lightweight striking savant clean. Notice that Cerrone's lead hand goes to Dos Anjos' to check it, but as Dos Anjos lands the left hook to the body, he swings his right hand low to escape Cerrone's hand fighting dominance. Cerrone's lead hand remains outstretched as Dos Anjos' lead hook circles in behind it.
The pinnacle of Dos Anjos' career so far was undoubtedly when he scored a knockout win over former UFC lightweight champion, Benson Henderson. Both men looked crisp with their striking but when RDA got Henderosn to the fence, he took a page out of Anthony Pettis' book by attacking Henderson with a jumping knee.
If you review Henderson's first bout with Pettis, Pettis is constantly trying to place Henderson on the fence, then he will wait for Henderson to react. Often Henderson would try to fight his way out or shoot a takedown, and Pettis would attempt to hit him with a counter strike.
RDA's knee looked solid, and as Henderson jumped back up out of his takedown attempt, he was hit with a left hook that floored him. The stoppage might have seemed a little early, but you can't fault how Dos Anjos got there, he'd looked remarkably sharp on the feet.
Dos Anjos' most recent fight was against the returning Nate Diaz, and frankly that is starting to become an easy fight for men who can grapple, low kick, and understand how move their feet. It was a one-sided beatdown as Diaz continued his grand tradition of getting knocked over by low kicks and still refusing to check them.
And that's how we got here. It took seven years and seventeen fights, and it never, ever seemed likely, but Rafael dos Anjos is fighting for the UFC lightweight title. So now to the important question.
Does He Have a Chance?
Continue reading here:
http://fightland.vice.com/blog/the-striking-rebirth-of-rafael-dos-anjos
