UFC: Rafael Dos Anjos Says He’s A Bad Matchup For Conor McGregor

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos is still hoping for his ‘red panty night’ with Conor McGregor inside the UFC Octagon, after coming close to fighting him twice in the past.

Dos Anjos made a successful return to the lightweight division at UFC Vegas 14 by beating Paul Felder, who stepped in on short notice to replace Islam Makhachev. McGregor on the other hand, was finished by Dustin Poirier in the second round at UFC 257 last month.

The Brazilian was booked to defend his lightweight title against McGregor at UFC 196 in March 2016, but had to pull out due to a broken foot. He was replaced on short notice by Nate Diaz, who went on to shock the world by submitting the Dublin native in the second round. The two went on to rematch at UFC 202 in August, which ‘The Notorious’ won via a closely contested split decision. In between the two fights, dos Anjos lost the title to Eddie Alvarez.

Dos Anjos again came close to fighting Conor in 2018. The UFC had planned for the former champions to fight for the interim welterweight title in Brazil, but after McGregor’s infamous bus attack ahead of UFC 223, the promotion scrapped their plans.

Bad Matchup For McGregor

With McGregor now ranked only one place above him in the lightweight rankings, dos Anjos believes a fight between the two makes sense once again. Speaking to MMA Junkie, RDA stated that he’s a bad matchup for the former two division champion.

“I believe when I fought Conor he was in the best moment of his career, and I was in the best moment of my career,” dos Anjos said. “I had the belt at the time, and I was feeling pretty confident at that time, and I was in great shape. I think I’m a very bad matchup for Conor. Especially for my style, my kicks and southpaw stance, my grappling skills, my wrestling skills. But that’s something that passed already. With the results of his last fights, I think our paths can cross again, but there’s so many options right now in that division.”

Other Options

But even if a dream fight with McGregor doesn’t come his way, dos Anjos still wants to fight someone above him in the rankings.

“I think anybody ahead of me in the rankings would be a good fight,” dos Anjos stated. “I see [Justin] Gaethje, he mentioned my name, [Charles] Oliveira, all these guys, [Michael] Chandler, even Tony [Ferguson]. He’s coming off two losses, but he’s ahead of me in the rankings and could be a good [fight]. Tony was a guy that beat me on the follow-up fight when I lost my title. It could be a good way for me to build up, to re-write my history again, and to have that rematch would be cool too.

“So there’s so many options, but I’m pretty much open to fight all these guys. Gaethje, Oliveira, Tony, Chandler, all these guys [and] Conor.”

Do you believe Rafael dos Anjos is a bad matchup for Conor McGregor?

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