Kamaru Usman vs Rafael Dos Anjos

The latest installment of the Ultimate Fighter tournament took place in Las Vegas and ended with a victory by Sicilia fighter Kamaru Usman.

Prediction from Rafael Dos Anjos

I’ve known Gilbert since first grade. I was best friends with his older brother. We were in second grade and Gilbert was in first grade. I grew up with the guy, and he’s always been awesome to us.”

I feel like, because he has trained with Kamaru in the past and is as close to him as anyone outside of his camp, that he is motivated. The one thing I am sure of: he’s very motivated. It might be for that reason that if Gilbert were to beat Kamaru on Saturday night, I would think it only fitting if the UFC champion did so by knockout since Dos Anjos predicted such an outcome in our interview Friday.”

“I’ll put my money on Gilbert because I feel like he’s in his time and feels like he has a chance to get the title,” Dos Anjos said (on Thursday). “And I’m sure he’ll go all out.”

Fighting

After 30 seconds of trading shots on the feet, Usman pressured his opponent against the fence. Thinking he was chasing for a takedown, he only managed to force his foe against the cage before they both turned and got back up.

Usman had a takedown and touchdown, but Dos Anjos was able to get up. In the clinch, Usman threw punches without causing any damage, while dos Anjos came out of the clinch swinging with an elbow to the head. With 45 seconds left in the round, Usman took his opponent to the ground where they finished off that set of rounds.

The second round began much like the first: Usman was aggressive, quickly having his opponent pinned against the net. Camaroo kept attacking relentlessly and looking for an opportunity to knock dos Anjos down on sheer power alone. Minute two saw dos Anjos pinned also against the net as Camaroo defended. Dos Anjos managed to nearly break Usman’s arm into a kimura joint lock once, but Camara had saved himself before that happened. Eventually, with one minute left in the round they were back upright again.

The Brazilian was very tired, Usman got close and continued to work his program – holding, occasional punches. Sixteen seconds before the end of the round, the fighters had a small exchange, cuts appeared and bleeding began.

Usman was in control near the net, dos Anjos was getting more and more tired. The Niguirian was able to bring his opponent to parterre with ease by that time. That’s how the third round went.

From the 10th round on, dos Santos seemed heavily tired and Usman was able to do whatever he wanted. The fight should have been ended early but there wasn’t enough energy or focus for it to happen.

At this point, he’d already fought a full five rounds more than his previous opponents did in rematches with him.

Summary of the fight

The beginning of the rounds of this fight can be distinguished only by the amount of blood and dos Anjos’s level of fatigue! In the middle of the round the Brazilian tried to suffocate his opponent, but Usman escaped and started beating Dos Anjos. The fight came down to the referee’s decision.