Rafael dos Anjos wants no more “what ifs” when it comes to him and Conor McGregor.
Dos Anjos recently called the Irishman out for a fight as he urged him to forget about his supposed retirement plans and finally face each other.
Of course, they were scheduled to meet back in 2016 when dos Anjos was the reigning UFC lightweight champion. However, the Brazilian would pull out with a foot injury which would eventually set off a chain reaction of events that have led us to today.
And although the matchup was considerably more interesting four years ago, “RDA” explained why he still wants that fight.
“The whole history,” dos Anjos told MMA Junkie on why he still wanted to fight McGregor. “I was the lightweight champion, he was coming up to challenge me and also, I got a lot of fights. That was the only one that I didn’t make it. That’s what I would like to have on my record, a fight with Conor.
“That’s why I tweeted out, ‘No more ifs.’ You see a lot of people say, ‘If that fight would’ve happened; If RDA won, If Conor won, what would’ve happened with Conor? If Conor had lost what would’ve happened?’ A lot of ifs. So it’s time to just put that thing on the table and let’s go. Let’s make this fight happen at any weight.”
Dos Anjos Not Buying McGregor’s Retirement
As for McGregor’s recent retirement — his third in the last four years — dos Anjos is simply not buying it.
The former two-weight champion expressed his frustration at not getting to fight Justin Gaethje next with UFC president Dana White preferring him to wait for the winner of the upcoming lightweight title unification fight instead of staying active.
And given their current positions in the UFC welterweight rankings, Dos Anjos believes there would still be some rationale in making a fight between himself and McGregor in the meantime.
“I don’t believe he’s retiring right now,” dos Anjos added. “That’s his third time retiring. I’m not buying that. I don’t think nobody is buying that. He’s too young and I believe he still has a lot in him. I don’t think he’s retiring right now.
“If you look at the whole situation, with me and Conor, I am ahead of him in the rankings at welterweight and this fight was supposed to happen four years ago and it didn’t happen. That would be a great fight. That’s the fight to make.”
McGregor is coming off a first-round TKO victory over Donald Cerrone in January. Dos Anjos, meanwhile, is on a two-fight losing skid after getting outpointed by Leon Edwards and most recently, Michael Chiesa.
