More than eight years after his fight with Conor McGregor was canceled, Rafael Dos Anjos has managed to use his rival’s words against him.
In February of 2016, Dos Anjos was forced to pull out of an historic lightweight world title fight with McGregor due to a broken foot. The Irishman was pursuing an unprecedented second world title, after winning the featherweight belt the previous December.
Instead, McGregor ended up taking on Nate Diaz after jumping up two weight classes to welterweight, which he lost by submission in the second round. Ultimately, Dos Anjos ended up losing his belt as well and the world title bout ended up being McGregor vs Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 the following November.
Conor McGregor goaded Rafael Dos Anjos with ‘bruise’ jibe after missing their fight eight years ago
At the time, Conor McGregor was coming off the back of a quick win over iconic featherweight champion Jose Aldo for the 145lb title. He was willing to make a quick turnaround, and within weeks had signed up to face Rafael Dos Anjos.
However, during camp the Brazilian suffered a bad injury and just days out from their fight was forced to pull out. He posted medical documents proving the severity of the injury, but his rival was unimpressed and insisted that it was little more than a bruise.
“I looked at the picture Dos Anjos put up and it’s a bruise,” McGregor told the media at the time. “I heard ice works wonders, what do you want me to say? Dos Anjos has a bruise on his foot, did you see it? It’s a bruise; ice, ibuprofen!
“If I jumped under an x-ray the doctor would slap me and say ‘what are you doing kid? Get out of here, stop this’. I don’t know. If you show up and fight you’re in, congratulations, you did it.”
Rafael Dos Anjos finally gets revenge on Conor McGregor with comeback eight years in the making
And over eight years after that press conference, Dos Anjos finally had his chance at revenge, tweeting the Irishman’s own words to use against him. McGregor was forced out of his UFC 303 headliner with Michael Chandler this week, and released a statement explaining his absence.
“Very tough to be ruled out of my scheduled return bout,” McGregor wrote. “I picked up an injury prior to the press conference that required more time to heal than was available to me. The decision to postpone the fight was not made lightly, but one made in consultation with my doctors, the UFC, and my team.
“My fans and opponent deserve me at my best for this fight and we will get there! Thank you for the messages of support, I am in good spirits and confident I’ll be back!”
Dos Anjos wasn’t convinced, using the years-old insult to his favour and saying: “It’s just a bruise, take some ibuprofen.” The post was seen over half a million times and had fans in hysterics in the comments section.
Michael Chandler reacts to Conor McGregor’s UFC 303 explanation
The nature of McGregor’s injury is unknown, but given his track record of pulling out of fights it is likely to be severe if it meant he missed his comeback. He infamously fought through a torn ACL at UFC 189 and an alleged broken foot at UFC 229 when he faced Khabib Nurmagomedov.
And as recently as hours before the announcement, Chandler said as much when he tweeted: “#mmafactoftheday – Amount of times these fighters have pulled out of fights in their entire careers. Conor McGregor – 0 Michael Chandler – 0.”
When McGregor made his post, Chandler replied with a comment that read “No hard feelings. Heal up. My heart is full. See you soon.” He also made the ‘official statement’: “I’m here, just as in 2009 when I started. The most reliable man in MMA. See you when I see you.”
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