Dos Anjos vs. Dunham

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

Dos Anjos looked so good against Mark Bocek his game was very well rounded and his conditioning was top notch if he uses the same techniques to prep for this fight he should secure a win.

damn im gonna have to do some thinking on who to pick this is a close one  this is gonna be  a good fight

Great fight, Dos Anjos has looked great lately going with him.

I keep hoping for a top ten opponent for RDA, but this is a good fight for him. He wins, he should be getting better competition.

Both fought Tibau and Griffin.....Gonna be a close fight, I think Dunham did better against Tibau than RDA. RDA lost to both, Dunham beat both.

* Edited at 02.27.2013, 7:09 PM ET *

RDA's fight with Tibau could have gone either way (at least I remember it that way). Dunham's fight was pretty close too. This is gonna be another barnburner.

Evan Dunham
============
southpaw
Striker/grappler 
aggressive 
decent striker 
contact striker 
decent punching tech. 
throws various punch combos/good 1-2 mainly 
> avg kicker 
ok leg kicks 
throws kicks to the legs/body/head 
avg striker in the clinch   
> avg head movement 
ok footwork 
ok clinch td 
decent shoot td 
prefers to shoot for a DL td  
> avg clinch tdd 
avg shoot sl or dl tdd 
ok top control 
ok jits 
> avg guard passing ability 
decent gnp 
ok active guard 
ok chin 
decent cardio 


Rafael Dos Anjos
================
southpaw
Striker/grappler
aggressive
decent striker 
contact striker
avg punching tech.
throws punch/kick combos
decent kicker 
good leg kicks
throws kicks to the legs/body/head
avg clinch strikes/ good knees 
decent head movement 
good footwork 
good clinch td 
decent shoot td
prefers to shoot for a DL td against the cage 
> avg clinch tdd 
ok shoot sl or dl tdd
ok top control
good jits
good guard passing ability
decent gnp
ok active guard
> avg chin
good cardio 


dunham win by popping that 1-2, avoiding td's, and maybe even landing a surprise takedown of his own for the decision.


Rafael is going to need to mix it up, but most importantly get dunham to the mat and keep him there.


Rafael Dos Anjos via Decision


Confidence meter: 6.5/10

what the odds should be
========================

Rafael Dos Anjos  -190
Evan Dunham +150

Hard pick they both can look great and then not so great.

I think RDA has looked a bit more impressive.

This fight is a pick'em... maybe slight edge to dos Anjos being a hometown fight.

I fully expect this fight to take place mostly on the feet, and I think Dunham will completely outwork RDA.

Betting odds are up: Rafael dos Anjos -192 vs. Evan Dunham +161

Either this fight is gonna be a SD, or fans are going to be surprised by how uneven the match is, despite no indications that it should have been.

I did research on how hosting nations do in their fights and Brazil has one of the best percentages.

RDA is very underrated. I see him coming out on top here. Dunham's been off and on since the Guillard fight. 

This is such a hard fight to call. I can't wait, should be the FOTN.

Dunham via wrestling and being the busier fighter

The stats show that this was far from a robbery but super close. Sucks for Dunham tho, that he always finds himself in such close wars...

That perfectly shows why stats suck for judging MMA fights. It absolutely does NOT matter how many strikes land but how effective they are. Dunham's misses were still making RDA back up. I agree it was a close fight but didn't understand Dos Anjos being ranked above Dunham (and I didn't and still don't have it that way) seeing as how his winning streak's best victim was Bocek, he lost to Tibau, and Dunham beat Tibau. 

I thought it was pretty obvious that RDA won the 1st, Dunham took over in the 2nd, and Dunham clearly won the 3rd, but I have seen many who gave Dunham rds 1 & 3 so obviously 1 was closer than I thought. What I do have a problem with is anyone who gave both of the 1st 2 rds for RDA when it was obviously a very close fight because of the absolutely stupid ABC rules that says each round should be judged separately. That is just utter ********. NO 2 rounds are EVER exactly alike so trying to pigeonhole them as 10-9 or 10-8 ONLY ruins the beauty of the sport. ANY close fight should almost always be even after the 2nd (and/or 4th).