Is Rafael Dos Anjos Just Keeping the UFC Belt Warm for Khabib Nurmagomedov?
There was a bittersweet quality to Rafael dos Anjosโ victory over Anthony Pettis at UFC 185.
It was as if, even as he was winning the lightweight title, Dos Anjos couldnโt win.
The new champion turned in a commanding performance on Saturday night, succinctly dragging all of Pettisโ weaknesses out of the dark recesses of our memories and putting them on full display. He beat Pettis up on the feet, stifled his flashy, sometimes garish offense with workmanlike forward pressure and took him down at will.
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Against fairly long odds, Dos Anjos won every single painstaking round, suddenly and utterly changing the trajectory of the 155-pound division before our very eyes.
Yet, somehow we couldnโt enjoy his triumph for what it was. We couldnโt even appreciate it in the moment without already spinning it forward, wondering aloud if heโll prove to be more than just a transitional champion.
โYou know whoโs watching this fight and getting excited?โ UFC color commentator Joe Rogan asked in the early stages of the fourth round.
Play-by-play announcer Mike Goldberg already knew the answer: โKhabib Nurmagomedov?โ
โThatโs right,โ Rogan said, โbecause he is the best grappler in this division and he has done to Dos Anjos what Dos Anjos is doing to Pettis.โ
A round later, Rogan brought up Nurmagomedov again, saying he was likely โlicking his chopsโ at the prospect of having Dos Anjos as champion. So, even as the 30-year-old Brazilian earned a 50-45 sweep on all three judgesโ scorecards and began filling his post-fight interview with bland religious platitudes, the message was already out there.
This guy might not be here all that long.
How unspeakably frustrating must this reception have been for Dos Anjos? Here he was winning the UFC title under career-making circumstances and it still wasnโt quite good enough.
The greatest moment of his life hadnโt even fully passed and conventional wisdom was already suggesting he was just keeping the UFC title warm for Nurmagomedov.
Unfair? Maybe. Unfounded? Not quite. Truth is, the skepticism shouldnโt really be a surprise. Few had Dos Anjosย pegged as the lightweight classโ next breakout star.
Through his first three years in the UFC he was no better than a .500 fighter, cleaning up against also-rans like Rob Emerson and Terry Etim, but faltering when matched against mainstays like Gleison Tibau or Clay Guida.
Even after it all seemed to click for him, his ceiling didnโt appear as high as other up-and-comers. He put together a 5-0 run during 2012-13, only to have the streak halted in crushing fashion by Nurmagomedov in April 2014.
That bout seemed to be the final word on Dos Anjosโ fitness as a contender. He just couldnโt keep Nurmagomedov off of him, smothered by the undefeated Sambo specialistโs near peerless grappling attack en route to a unanimous-decision loss.
There was no shame in thisโthe same thing has happened to Nurmagomedovโs other 21 opponents, tooโbut it felt as though Dos Anjos had slipped a step behind the rest of the elite fighters in his division.
Even after he regrouped for three more wins, his rise to contender status was slow and quiet. In fact, it probably wouldโve been Nurmagomedov fighting Pettis at UFC 185 had he been healthy enough to make the date. Unfortunately, Nurmagomedov was still out tending to a torn meniscus when Pettis emerged victorious over Gilbert Melendez at UFC 181, and so Dos Anjos got the next shot.
He wasn't really supposed to win. Heโd looked impressive in his most recent performancesโincluding back-to-back victories over Benson Henderson and Nate Diazโbut Pettis was flying too high to be stopped.
Or so we thought.
Dos Anjosโ victory was the kind that only became obvious in hindsight. He came equipped with the perfect game plan and executed it flawlessly, making us question everything we thought we knew about the lightweight pecking order.
Nobody saw it coming.
Well, nobody except Nurmagomedov, who told MMAFighting.comโs Marc Raimondi the week of the fight he thought Dos Anjos would โsmashโ Pettis.ย Now that heโs been proved right, Nurmagomedovโwho is rapidly becoming one of the best talkers in the UFC's most competitive weight classโhas his eye on the title.
First, though, he stillย has to take on Donald Cerrone in a presumptive No. 1 contender bout at UFC 187.
"I feel I am the No. 1 lightweight in the world," Nurmagomedov told Fox Sports' Damon Martin this week. "I am very focused for my next fight versus 'Cowboy' (Cerrone). I will come back strong, beat Cowboy...and after that I want my fight against Rafael dos Anjos because he has my belt."
It seems as though most observers are on board with that analysis.ย If and when it happens, Nurmagomedov will almost certainly be the betting favorite against Dos Anjos. Most people have a difficult time imagining their second bout going much differently than the first, and expect another grappling tutorial from the Russian.
Of course, this line of reasoning jumps to some fairly substantial conclusions.ย A lot could still happen to foul up Nurmagomedov's plan.
For starters, it was revealed in the wake of UFC 185 that Dos Anjos defeated Pettis with a torn MCL. He also suffered a broken nose during the fight, and his recuperation from both will put him out of action for at least three months.
Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov could lose to the streaking Cowboy, or could suffer another injury that makes it hard to line his schedule up with the championโs.
But if that rematch does get made, make no mistake: Dos Anjos will have two tough battles on his hands.
First, heโll have to figure a way to deal with Nurmagomedovโs remarkable wrestling attack.
Second, heโll have to win over his many doubters and prove he's fit for the crown.
Chad Dundas covers MMA for Bleacher Report.
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