When Rafael Dos Anjos pulled out of his 2016 title clash with Conor McGregor after sustaining a broken foot, he lost the biggest fight of his career. Yet, he never pushed the UFC to try and reschedule.
While eight years have passed since the pair were meant to go head-to-head, the Brazilian has remained adamant that he did ‘the right thing’ by not pursuing the bout.
Rafael Dos Anjos explains why he didn’t push The UFC to reschedule Conor McGregor fight
Fresh off a historic victory over Jose Aldo inside just 13 seconds for featherweight gold, Conor McGregor stepped up to lightweight in a bid to make history.
At the time, no fighter had ever held two belts simultaneously, thus giving the Irishman all the motivation he needed to push the boundaries of MMA further than anybody ever had before.
At the time, the champion was Rafael Dos Anjos—a gifted competitor with tremendous grappling skills.
The pair exchanged verbal insults during an entertaining press conference, which left fans chomping at the bit to watch the two men go to war in the cage.
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Sadly, however, ‘RDA’ suffered a broken foot, forcing him out of the contest, with just a week and a half to go. This prompted Nate Diaz to step in, fight McGregor, and pull off one of the biggest upsets the sport has ever seen.
By the time Dos Anjos eventually recovered, his Irish nemesis was still locked in a rivalry with Diaz. Consequently, he instead defended his belt against Eddie Alvarez, who beat him in destructive fashion, before ultimately losing to McGregor himself.
In the end, the Rio fighter never had the opportunity to showcase his skills against the biggest name in MMA history. However, he’s more than happy with how things turned out.
He told Submission Radio: “Thinking back, I could take the chance of like, ‘Okay, now since I was a champion, he fought Diaz, he lost to Diaz, now I wanna fight Conor…’ I could do that, but I just wanna move the things [for the lightweight division].
“Back in the day, I held a belt. So, I shouldn’t [say], ‘Conor, I’m gonna stop, I’m gonna wait here. I’m not gonna fight anybody else. I’m gonna wait for Conor’. Instead of doing that, I think I did the right thing, move forward.
“I end up fighting Eddie Alvarez. I don’t regret anything I’ve done. I think that the division is there, and I can’t lock up the division. I think I did the right thing.”
All these years later, Dos Anjos is still content with his decision to move on from his rival. And he’s advised Michael Chandler to do the same.
Rafael Dos Anjos encourages Michael Chandler to chase UFC gold
No matter what happens for the rest of his life, RDA can always say he held the most coveted prize in all of MMA.
However, Chandler can’t currently do the same. While he has produced some great moments in the promotion, and even had Charles Oliveira nearly out in their title fight, he’s spent the last two years focusing solely on McGregor.
The money that comes with clashing with the Dubliner is undeniably sky-high. In addition, the rivalry has marinated nicely through a series of The Ultimate Fighter.
However, with the bout failing to come to fruition thus far, Dos Anjos has told ‘Iron’ that he should focus his efforts on claiming the belt.
He tweeted: “How much is the opportunity to become a world champion worth? For some of us, there is no price on a UFC belt. Mine is certainly not for sale. Chandler should stop his ‘See you at the top’ motivational speeches. It’s embarrassing…”
Chandler responded: “Cool story. See you at the top!!!!”
The former champion fired back: “I’ve been up here buddy, haven’t seen you yet.”
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