{"id":282990,"date":"2018-08-16T05:45:59","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T12:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=282990"},"modified":"2018-08-16T05:45:59","modified_gmt":"2018-08-16T12:45:59","slug":"rafael-dos-anjos-explains-why-he-doesnt-want-to-fight-santiago-ponzinibbio-in-argentina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rafael-dos-anjos\/rafael-dos-anjos-explains-why-he-doesnt-want-to-fight-santiago-ponzinibbio-in-argentina\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafael dos Anjos explains why he doesn’t want to fight Santiago Ponzinibbio in Argentina"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, surging UFC welterweight contender Santiago Ponzinibbio called for a fight with recent interim welterweight title challenger Rafael dos Anjos. It was his hope, he said, that he could battle dos Anjos in the main event of the UFC’s upcoming debut in his native Argentina.<\/p>\n

Dos Anjos, however, wasn’t interested in flying down to Argentina to fight Ponzinibbio on his home turf, which resulted in a heated social media skirmish between the two.<\/a> Ultimately, Ponzinibbio even accused dos Anjos of ducking him.<\/p>\n

The problem for dos Anjos however, is not Ponzinibbio. As he said on Twitter, he’d gladly fight Ponzinibbio in his gym. The problem, instead, is Argentina. He’d have the same problem fighting anywhere but the United States, where he’s now based, as his wife is about to give birth to their third child via C-section. He’s just not keen on abandoning his family at this stressful juncture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care who I fight, but I just don\u2019t want to leave my family,\u201d dos Anjos today told MMAjunkie<\/a> this week. \u201cI think my family is first. I can\u2019t leave a young kid with my wife alone here.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s going to get a C-section, so she\u2019s going to need help. I\u2019m the man. I need to be here supporting my wife and my family. That\u2019s my job, and I\u2019m not going to leave my family to fight in another country and fight far away from home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafael Dos Anjos then recounted the conversation with UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby in which the fight with Santiago Ponzinibbio was first offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Sean Shelby called me to offer that fight, my first question was, \u2018Where?\u2019 I didn\u2019t even ask him who I\u2019m going to be fighting,\u201d dos Anjos said. \u201cHe goes, \u2018Argentina.\u2019 I said, \u2018Sean, last year I fought two times in Canada, I fought in Singapore, and one time here in the US. I want to stay around, especially on that date \u2013 not because it\u2019s Santiago Ponzinibbio.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Ponzinibbio is] making a big drama saying that I\u2019m afraid to fight him in Argentina. No, I\u2019m not afraid. I told him to come to my gym \u2013 we\u2019ll fight here. We\u2019ll fight in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not afraid of that guy. I just don\u2019t want to take an 18-hour flight. Even in Brazil \u2013 I don\u2019t want to fight in Brazil. It\u2019s too far. I don\u2019t want to take a 15- or 16-hour flight to leave my family for that long. I want to fight in the US. That\u2019s what I said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fair play to Rafael dos Anjos.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPENN.COM<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 8\/14\/2018.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Earlier this month, surging UFC welterweight contender Santiago Ponzinibbio called for a fight with recent interim welterweight title challenger Rafael dos Anjos. It was his hope, he said, that he could battle dos Anjos in the main event of the UFC’s upcoming debut in his native Argentina. Dos Anjos, however, wasn’t interested in flying down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":282785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10109],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nRafael dos Anjos explains why he doesn't want to fight Santiago Ponzinibbio in Argentina | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/rafael-dos-anjos\/rafael-dos-anjos-explains-why-he-doesnt-want-to-fight-santiago-ponzinibbio-in-argentina\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rafael dos Anjos explains why he doesn't want to fight Santiago Ponzinibbio in Argentina | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earlier this month, surging UFC welterweight contender Santiago Ponzinibbio called for a fight with recent interim welterweight title challenger Rafael dos Anjos. 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