'Clash of the Rafaels' at long last set to go for it
The supposed 'Skirmish of the Rafaels' between Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev will at last go on when they meet in the lightweight headliner of a UFC Fight Night at the APEX Facility in Las Vegas on the morning of Sunday 10 July 2022.
This battle was initially scheduled for February yet deferred to UFC 272 the next month because of visa issues for Fiziev, who then tried positive for Covid-19 and this prompted the subsequent date being rejected too.
Previous lightweight hero Dos Anjos (31-13) is pursuing a third consecutive win after triumphs over Paul Felder (by means of parted choice) and Renato Moicano (through consistent choice) in November 2020 and March of this current year separately.
The 37-year-old Brazilian-American overwhelmed in his last excursion to the Octagon and concedes that he backed off on Moicano.
"I was [surprised the battle wasn't stopped]," dos Anjos made sense of. "I told my corner, after the specialist stepped in from the third to the fourth and the fourth to the fifth, they didn't stop it in the third and I said, 'They will stop it without a doubt.' But they didn't."
He added, "I won't say I made an effort not to stress about him in the fifth. I went, however I took my foot off the gas since I realized I was four rounds ahead and he's a hard person to get done, so my mentor said face no challenges, simply go there, eat some time.
"It makes me crazy since I see folks in boxing, constantly individuals toss the towel, stop the battle, and we don't see that in MMA," dos Anjos said.
"I consider on the grounds that the little gloves, mentors think, 'He will get a fortunate punch and finish the battle,' yet I figure we ought to see that more. I figure mentors ought to be more mindful, to know their warriors. They're not responding, they're not associating whatever truly harms the other person, so we should stop it since you're killing your warrior. I feel that is something that the mentors in MMA ought to be more mindful of."
Fiziev (11-1) comes into the session with a five-battle win streak added to his repertoire. His last excursion to the Octagon brought a third-round knockout of Brad Riddell in December 2021.
The 29-year-old Kyrgyzstani accepts a bring home over a previous championship holder, for example, dos Anjos would put him very nearly a title match.
"No doubt, in the event that everything goes great I see one all the more endlessly battle for the belt presently," Fiziev made sense of. "I see perhaps someone, perhaps [Justin] Gaethje or [Dustin] Poirier later. Poirier's going to 170, is that right? Perhaps Gaethje next one. We'll see. We'll see, yet after this battle, on the off chance that all works out positively, I need another battle and a title shot."
The remainder of the principal card highlights Caio Borralho v Armen Petrosyan in the middleweight division; a bantamweight fight between Said Nurmagomedov and Douglas Silva de Andrade; Jared Vanderaa v Chase Sherman in a heavyweight crash; a middleweight match setting Jamie Pickett in opposition to Denis Tiuliulin; and Michael Johnson v Jamie Mullarkey in a lightweight opener.
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