Rafael dos Anjos wants to remind Conor McGregor he’s entering a whole new world by switching weight classes.
McGregor conquered the featherweight division in UFC 194, where he took the title from Jose Aldo in just 13 seconds. But dos Anjos, who’s the UFC lightweight champion, wants him to know their UFC 197 bout on March 5 isn’t going to be that easy.
“He always said he was going to beat Aldo and win the lightweight title,” dos Anjos told MMAFighting.com recently. “My job is to be there and defend my belt. I think Aldo deserved an immediate rematch because of how the fight ended and because he was undefeated for 10 years, but (McGregor) wanted to move up and fight me. I will be there to defend my belt and send him back to the featherweight division so Aldo can finish him for good.”
McGregor had a pretty easy go of the featherweight division, winning all seven of his UFC fights with six of them coming by knockout. But dos Anjos is 10-1 in his last 11 UFC fights — he’s 14-5 overall in UFC — and already has defended his lightweight belt twice. That’s why dos Anjos sees himself dominating the trash-talking McGregor.
“It’s going to be beautiful,” dos Anjos told MMAFighting.com. “I don’t see this fight going five rounds. I see myself dominating him completely. … I will show him the worst side of the game.
“Aldo was going to be the first to show him that, but there was no fight. I won’t call it luck, but a moment of distraction from Aldo. Maybe he got too emotive and tried to finish it quickly, but I won’t be like that. I will be calm and kick his ass for good. I want to finish him. I want to submit him, actually. Sometimes you knock someone out and the way they go down isn’t nice, but when you submit someone … I want to make him quit, I want him asking me to stop. That’s what I want.”
Thumbnail photo via Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports Images
