A very different main event opponent awaits Rafael dos Anjos this weekend at UFC Vegas 14.
With Islam Makhachev withdrawing for the fight earlier this week, RDA’s lightweight return will come against Paul Felder. “The Irish Dragon” is stepping in on just five day’s notice.
“I was training for a southpaw wrestler, and Paul Felder jumped in. I met him, and I thanked him. He’s a really cool guy,” dos Anjos told media outlets including Cageside Press at this week’s UFC Vegas 14 media day. “It was really good for us, we saved the show by him stepping in on five day’s notice. But he’s an orthodox striker, he changed [things] for me a little bit. But I’m pretty sure we’re going to put on a great show for the fans.”
The former lightweight champion is looking to prove something upon his return to the division he once ruled. For the past several years, he’s competed at welterweight, challenging for an interim belt there. However, months ago, dos Anjos began his preparation to return. “I’ve been changing my whole body for the past seven, eight months. My body’s responding really well. I’m trying to reinvent myself, and prove I can be lightweight champion again,” he stated.
In his absence, dos Anjos feels that the lightweight division has become overly cautious. With fighters using their ranking as an excuse to turn down fights.
“It’s been changing a lot. All the top five guys, they’re really cautious to take the next step. It’s been kind of a very strategic game played by them,” dos Anjos opined. Back in his day, prior to the advent of the ranking system, “everybody fought everybody,” RDA continued. “I think these days, people are really cautious to go to the next step. Nobody wants to take any fight, because they want to wait for someone else to take the fight, to wait for someone else’s results. It’s slows the division down a lot. Fighter’s gotta fight. Fighters gotta fight. You can’t just hide behind rankings, and try to pick the best fight, the best match, and wait for results of fights that are still on paper. Fighters gotta go there and fight.”
Which is why Rafael dos Anjos was no doubt game to take on the gritty Paul Felder on short notice.
Not on his radar, at least at the moment, is Conor McGregor. But that’s not to say that dos Anjos isn’t interested down the line.
“I just want to clarify, Conor McGregor is not my goal. I’m not dropping back to the lightweight division to fight Conor. That’s not my goal,” dos Anjos insisted. Instead, “I want to fight for the belt. Whoever has the belt, I’ll fight. Khabib [Nurmagomedov] leaving the division I think will leave the division wide open.”
Adamant that “my focus is 100% on Paul Felder on Saturday,” however, dos Anjos went on to add that “being back in the win column, I think if you look at these top five guys, if you look at [Tony] Ferguson, [Justin] Gaethje, and [Dustin] Poirier, they’re former interim champions. The only two guys that were former champions was me and Conor. Khabib leaving the division, I think that fight [dos Anjos vs. McGregor] could be a good fight for the vacant belt.”
McGregor, of course, is lined up for a rematch with Dustin Poirier, who he defeated when the pair originally met at featherweight. If RDA gets past Felder, and McGregor beats Poirier again, then a fight originally booked in 2016 could perhaps finally come to fruition.
Watch the full UFC Vegas 14 media day scrum with Rafael dos Anjos above. The event takes place this Saturday, November 14 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, NV.
