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Rafael Dos Anjos Not Impressed By Khabib Nurmagomedov

April 29, 2016 | Posted by Joseph Lee

In an interview with MMA Fighting, Rafael dos Anjos said that he hasn’t been impressed with Khabib Nurmagomedov. Here are highlights:

On Khabib’s win over Darrel Horcher: “I was not even a little impressed. He fought a guy who has a full-time job and took the fight on a week’s notice. After the first minute, with all due respect, (Horcher) looked pink, completely out of shape, and (Khabib) still needed almost two rounds to finish the fight. Congratulations to the opponent that accepted the fight, but there’s no way… When I lost to Khabib, I was ranked No. 5 or 6 and many things have changed since. He beat a guy who has a full-time job, and I beat Jason High, Ben Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone.”

On trying to get a rematch: “He’s saying he needs some rest because he trained for three months for this fight? Wait a minute… Forty days after fighting him, I fought Jason High. Two months later, I fought Ben Henderson. When you want the belt, you have to work for it. I think that after a performance like that, he should at least fight Tony Ferguson in May. The number of UFC fights he has, I did it in one year. I offered him to fight me in July when his fight got cancelled, but he couldn’t do it for religious reasons, I guess, but the opportunity was offered and he didn’t say yes. Now he beats a guy who has a full-time job and thinks he deserves a title shot? In my opinion, he does not. He has to work more. He can’t live the rest of his life saying ‘oh, I beat Rafael, I’m the champion without the belt’. He has to work. Forget about that. I’ve done a lot of things and evolved more since that fight.”

On if the rematch would be different: “I was a different fighter back then. I’ve done wrong things with my diet and my personal life, and I wasn’t 100 percent focused in the fight. It would be a completely different fight now. Take a look at my results and his results. It would be completely different. Two years have passed, the game has changed, and he needs better results.”

article topics :

Rafael dos Anjos, Joseph Lee