Rafael dos Anjos thoroughly dominated UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis over five full rounds to claim his title by unanimous decision.
Well, that was certainly surprising. Rafael dos Anjos made the absolute most of his UFC 185 title shot against Anthony Pettis, dominating him over a full 25 minutes to take a unanimous decision and the title belt in the process. Dos Anjos was truly a complete fighter - he scored a gaggle of takedowns, connected with very hard kicks and punches, and was just at a different level. Dos Anjos becomes the first UFC Brazilian lightweight champion with the win, and he did it in amazing fashion.
Dos Anjos came out hard in the first, showing no fear of Showtime's vaunted striking game. Both men landed early and often, but it was RDA that was connecting with the harder, cleaner shots. He landed one particularly hard shot that caught Pettis right on the eyebrow, bringing up some swelling. Pettis definitely had his moments as well though. Dos Anjos scored a beautiful takedown with about a minute left, and likely took the round.
They continued the firefight early in round two, with RDA walking Pettis down and both of them connecting. Pettis scored with a massive body kick, but got taken down. Dos Anjos continued his assault from top position and drew some blood out of Pettis' injured eyebrow area.
A bloody Pettis opened the third with a huge head kick, but Dos Anjos just ate it and kept coming forward. After landing a few punches, he got a takedown. Pettis managed to get back to his feet relatively quickly, but Dos Anjos held into him and grinded away. He eventually him back down and took just before the horn.
Pettis landed two big body kicks early in the fourth, but RDA responded with hard body punches and got yet another takedown. This time instead of the ground and pound, Dos anjos looked for a kimura. Pettis managed to escape the danger but quickly had his back taken. Pettis spun around to his feet and got a brief takedown on Dos Anjos. They grinded against the cage and Dos Anjos scored a late takedown.
Pettis told Duke Roufus before the start of the final round that he couldn't see out of his right eye. After one of the first lulls in action on the feet in the entire fight, Dos Anjos took Pettis to the floor. Pettis returned to his feet with about two minutes to go, but that lasted about 20 seconds before he was on his back again. Showtime looked for a kimura, but RDA took his back and looked for a choke. Pettis made it to the horn, but he didn't leave with his belt.
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