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Rafael dos Anjos made a triumphant return to the UFC lightweight division after an impressive win over last-minute replacement Paul Felder.
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In his post-fight interview, RDA was asked by Michael Bisping about his thoughts on the UFC lightweight championship picture. He replied that if Khabib Nurmagomedov is ‘actually retired', the fight to make was between him and Conor McGregor.
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Rafael dos Anjos added that among the UFC lightweights in contention for the belt, only Conor and him are former undisputed champions. Justin Gaethje and Dustin Poirier were awarded the interim championships while Anthony Pettis' last fight was in the welterweight division.
RDA was initially slated to take on Islam Makhachev in the main event of the pay-per-view but the Dagestani grappler had to pull out of the fight after suffering a staph infection. Felder then stepped in on 5 days' notice and while he had an amazing showing, Rafael dos Anjos was always going to get a nod on the judges’ scorecard after an impressive performance.
Rafael dos Anjos returned to lightweight after a 4-year gap
Rafael dos Anjos had captured the lightweight crown in March 2015 after defeating Anthony Pettis at UFC 185.
He would then go on to defend the title against Donald Cerrone before losing the strap to Eddie Alvarez. After suffering another loss to Tony Ferguson in his next fight, RDA decided to move up a weight category and fought at welterweight 8 times.
And while his crisp striking and world-class grappling got him some noticeable scalps at 170-pounds such as Robbie Lawler and Neil Magny, he was often observed to be the smaller fighter as compared to his opponents.
However, with his impressive performance against Felder, RDA has once again put the lightweight division on notice.
