Pettis vs. dos Anjos

This is the official discussion thread for Pettis vs. dos Anjos. Let's see what you've got.

Exciting.

Why so little faith in the future goat? =/

I doubt RDA lasts long with Pettis.

I think two Anjos are better than one.  Pettis needs to go down.

Anyone else think Dos Anjos is better looking than Pettis?

I think RDA looks better moving forward than Pettis does moving backward. I think Pettis is better than RDA moving forward, though. But in this fight RDA will be the one pressuring.

That said neither one is that cute, imo.

* Edited at 03.08.2015, 6:49 PM ET *

I would totally do either one of them.

http://www.mmafighting.com/2015/3/9/8048747/khabib-nurmagomedov-rafael-dos-anjos-will-smash-anthony-pettis

I just don't see anyone smashing Pettis right now.

No one is smashing Pettis before he is 40 years old. But I really believe RDA is a special talent and has the discipline to pull the upset off.

* Edited at 03.09.2015, 8:44 PM ET *

I see dos Anjos being aggressive and winning this fight. He's quicker than Gil, and that should play a major part in this fight, if he uses a similar if not identical gameplan that Melendez used. Going with the upset.

RDA just seems to me a bit too generic. Very, very good at everything, exceptional at none.  And while that's good enough to be a top-5 fighter I don't think it gets you the crown.

Excited for this weekend.

 

One hell of a wild fight. Dos Anjos is a tough guy, hope this will go to the distance.

I'm surprised the line is as close as it is. 

The betting line can't really get stretched any further because Pettis has shown that if he can't avoid getting taken down and/or getting a fairly early finish, guys who move forward and aggressively grapple can make a fight even with him real quick.  Pettis has gone to 5 decisions in 20 fights and only pulled of a Unanimous Decision in one of them, and even that came down to the 5th round against Benson in WEC.  Dos Anjos has only been finished twice in 30 fights and once was due to injury from a broken jaw in multiple places suffered in the first round of a fight he finally couldn't continue due to the injury in the third.  20 screws and 4 titanium plates later and RDA has broken Tibau and Njokuani's hands, just that we know of, so far on clean shots to his new chin as it's built to treat jabs, straights, and uppercuts like a tank.  Pettis should look to attack with kicks as he usually does, but if RDA doesn't allow space at all for the entire fight as his plan may likely be to avoid the kicking game, I don't think Pettis could control the grappling or know that he could have a good chance of landing a submission on Dos Anjos, if he does face 25 minutes of calculated smothering. 

"20 screws and 4 titanium plates later and RDA has broken Tibau and Njokuani's hands, just that we know of, so far on clean shots to his new chin as it's built to treat jabs, straights, and uppercuts like a tank.  "


Yeah but RDA's got nothing on this guy:

I could see RDA pressuring Pettis for all 5 rounds and then winning an UD.

I think - no, I am sure - that RDA has been underrated as hell since forever. The problem is that there is a high possibility that Pettis is simply the best fighter in the planet right now. While I have no idea of what will actually happen once the cage door closes, I do know that 1) RDA is insanely skilled in every area of the game and 2) all signs point to crazy.