Rafael Dos Anjos som har förtjänat sin chans på UFC-guld mot den nuvarande lättviktsmästaren Anthony ”Showtime” Pettis har sedan tidigare sagt att han kommer knocka honom. Pettis berättar om hans syn på matchen mellan de två och om hur det hela kommer utspela sig under UFC 185.
Rafael Dos Anjos har nämnt sedan tidigare att han ser flera brister hos Anthony Pettis som han tror att han kan ta vara på. Han har även sagt att han tror på en knockout vinst mot den nuvarande mästaren.
Anthony Pettis förklarar för MMAfighting.com:
”That’s what they all say, man,” sa Pettis. ”‘Cowboy’ (Cerrone) said the same thing. (Benson) Henderson said the same thing. So did Melendez. And we all saw how that ended up. So I mean, I respect that he has to talk, he has to convince himself that I have holes in my game, but I don’t know what fights he really watched besides Clay Guida to get a gameplan, and I fixed that a long time ago. Honestly, I think it’s hard to even prepare for me.
Pettis fortsätter, ”I mean, if I was fighting myself, I wouldn’t even know what fight to watch. I haven’t shown any flaws in my game or had any bad moments in my last couple fights. So if he really believes I have holes in my game, I guess he’s going to find out the hard way that it’s definitely not true.”
Rafael Dos Anjos som under sina nio senaste matcher har vunnit åtta och där den enda förlusten kom mot Khabib Nurmagomedov som förmodligen blir den nästa utmanaren på titeln. Dos Anjos som vill sätta press på ”Showtime” som han tror ska vara nyckeln till en vinst mot den kreativa mästaren.
Pettis förklarar, ”But these guys think they can pressure me, but they don’t understand that I’m a counter fighter. I’m very good at countering right now. I have a unique range, I control it, and if you’re coming at me hard, the harder you come at me, the easier it is to knock you out or hurt you. So I like that they all have that gameplan of pressure, but I mean, Melendez did the same thing. I think he’s going to be surprised when he actually feels how strong I am and how technical I am and the angles my strikes come at. It’s just different.”
Pettis går in mer på hur Dos Anjos stående kunskaper inte kommer räcka för att vinna mot honom och att han inte har de som krävs för att vinna.
”Benson Henderson is not even close to being on my level in striking, and neither is Rafael dos Anjos,” sa Pettis. ”His striking, to me, he’s a decent striker, but when I look at him I’m not afraid of his striking. His jiu-jitsu as well. His wrestling is decent. I mean, I just feel like I’m a bad match-up for him. The things that he thinks he’s good at is where I’m way better than him at.”
Pettis fortsätter, ”I’m going to finish the fight. I don’t know exactly how. My last few fights were submissions so I’m due for a knockout. But if he thinks he’s going to stand there and bang with me, then I think this fight will definitely end in a knockout, and I don’t see it going out of the first round. I mean, even though Melendez got me into the second, I actually fought that fight a little safe. Even though it didn’t go so long into the second round, I just fought it safe. I was inching along out there, but I think now I’m back at it. I don’t think I need more than five minutes to take this guy out.”
UFC 185: Pettis vs dos Anjos kommer att äga rum på American Airlines Center i Dallas, Texas den 14 mars.
