For just the second time in his professional MMA career, Rafael dos Anjos (25-9) has lost two fights in a row.
After losing the UFC lightweight belt to Eddie Alvarez at UFC Fight Night 90 back in July, the former champion fought a tough and exciting battle over the weekend against Tony Ferguson (22-3) at UFC Fight Night 98, which took place in Mexico City. Ferguson was awarded a unanimous decision over dos Anjos and has stacked up nine wins in a row, setting a record that no other lightweight has been to achieve in the UFC. Ferguson is still looking to get his shot at UFC gold on his nine-fight winning streak.
With falling short in the bout against Ferguson, “RDA” mentioned in the post-fight Octagon interview that his vision was messed up from an accidental eye-poke but gave Ferguson credit for his fight performance.
“His finger in my eyes bothered them a little bit in the second, I was seeing double, but that’s no excuse,” Dos Anjos said. “Tony did a great job. He was the better fighter today.”
On Sunday, Philipe Della Monica, a BJJ black belt who is on Team dos Anjos posted a photo of the nasty eye-poke that the former UFC champ suffered in the fight with Ferguson.
Della Monica posted the photo sand said, “Congratulations for one more war @rdosanjosmma. Won the first round and after got poked in the eye, kept fighting with bad vision, and against a good opponent. | MMA is a tough sport. WE WILL BE BACK ——> Parabéns por mais uma guerra @rdosanjosmma. Ganhou bem o primeiro round, e depois que tomou uma dedada no olho, continuou lutando sem enxergar direito, e contra um bom adversário. MMA um esporte duro. | Você dará a volta por cima.”
Do you think the eye-poke played a part in Rafael dos Anjos’ performance in the fight against Tony Ferguson? Sound off in the comments!
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