Although it wasn’t what he was expecting, Rafael Dos Anjos won the fight and ruthlessly beat Renato Moicano in five rounds at the UFC 272 comain event.
Dos Anjos originally scheduled to fight Rafael Fiziev Saturday night but he drew Moicano with just five days notice. However, he apparently decided to vent his frustrations over his replacement notice. Dos Anjos was relentless with his ground attacks as he opened several cuts on Moicano and left him covered in blood and bruises when the fight came to an end.
The scorecards read 49-45, 49-44 and 50-44 as Dos Anjos secured the win for his second straight victory since returning to the lightweight division.
“Thank you to Moicano to take the fight on short notice,” Dos Anjos said. Moicano won the fight despite many people running away. It was very impressive.
“[It] was hard for him but it was hard for me as well. I was training to fight Fiziev and he’s a Muay Thai fighter.”
It seemed that Moicano wanted to start the fight quickly. He was aggressive early on and frequently, but Dos anjos stopped him by using his grappling skills to slow down the pace. Dos Anjos took a quick takedown at the cage and was relentless in his punishment of Moicano, who kept him under control.
After spending most of the first round on his back, Moicano showed much better defense at the start of the second but the relentless attack from Dos Anjos eventually brought him back to the ground again. It was a methodical attack from Dos Anjos as he continuously set up his shots, measuring elbows and then looking to pass through Moicano’s defense.
After a dominating start, Dos anjos switched to striking to first batter Moicano on his feet. He was also throwing some strong punches during the exchanges. Dos Anjos then uncorked a beautiful head kick that blasted Moicano and sent him down to the ground as it appeared the fight might be over.
Moicano survived the knockdown, but Dos Anjos continued his relentless assault on Moicano with more strikes to the canvas. Moicano returned to his corner after the final round. He had a cut on his left eye, and was able to walk out of his corner without any swelling.
While Moicano attempted to alter the momentum of the fight, Dos Anjos continued to place him on the floor where he would continue to brutalize him. By the time the fourth round ended, Moicano was a bloody mess and it appeared the fight could be stopped at any moment.
Despite every indication looking like Moicano shouldn’t be allowed to continue, he still came out firing with one last surge in an attempt to pull off possibly the craziest comeback in MMA history. Moicano was able to score a couple of strikes during the last exchange, but that wasn’t enough to win. Dos Anjos won after five exhausting rounds.
Rather than calling out another top-ranked lightweight afterwards, Dos Anjos decided to take aim at the UFC 272 main event, although it seems more likely that he’ll be sticking around at 155 pounds in the foreseeable future.
“I’m ready,” Dos Anjos said. “I hope [Jorge] Masvidal wins [over Colby Covington] so I can fight him for the BMF’ belt .”
