AS THE YEAR comes to an end, it’s fair to say that 2016 hasn’t unfolded in the manner that neither Rafael Dos Anjos nor Conor McGregor would have initially hoped.
Much has changed on the mixed martial arts landscape since Dos Anjos was due to defend the UFC lightweight title against McGregor eight months ago at UFC 196.
However, while McGregor has salvaged his own situation to return to a position where he’s again one win away from making history, the road back for Dos Anjos only begins tonight.
Despite being scheduled to face each other in Las Vegas on 5 March, Dos Anjos and McGregor were both defeated when they next entered the octagon. After a foot injury forced the Brazilian to withdraw from his clash with the Dubliner on less than two weeks’ notice, their respective careers went in diffierent directions.
McGregor lost to his replacement opponent at UFC 196, Nate Diaz, before gaining revenge in their rematch in August at UFC 202. His reward was another lightweight title shot, except this time against a different champion.
Having recovered from his injury, Dos Anjos relinquished the lightweight title in July following a first-round TKO defeat to Eddie Alvarez, whose first defence of the belt will be against McGregor in New York in seven days’ time.
Tonight, Dos Anjos aims to drag himself back into contention in the 155lbs division with a main-event slot on the finale of the third season of The Ultimate Fighter Latin America. Dos Anjos believes that the winner of his bout with Tony Ferguson in Mexico City should be handed a title shot, but that may depend on the outcome of another lightweight bout next weekend at Madison Square Garden.
According to the rankings, Khabib Nurmagomedov is currently the number one contender — despite McGregor’s status as the challenger at UFC 205. On the same card, Nurmagomedov can amplify his calls for a title shot by getting the better of Michael Johnson.
It will be difficult for the undefeated Dagestani fighter — who defeated Dos Anjos in 2014 — to be ignored if he takes his professional record to 24-0 at Johnson’s expense, particularly considering that he was even given a contract to fight Eddie Alvarez before the UFC came to an agreement for Conor McGregor to face the champion instead.
Nevertheless, tonight’s headliners also possess strong cases for consideration — Ferguson especially. A win here would be his ninth in a row. Since that hot streak began back in October 2013, Nurmagomedov has competed just twice due to a series of injuries.
And while Dos Anjos — who recently left the Kings MMA camp to set up his own team in California — might need more than one win to get himself back into the title picture, it should be remembered that his unexpected setback against Alvarez was preceded by consecutive victories against Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone.
Tonight’s main event should make for a fascinating contest between two well-rounded fighters with plenty at stake. They’ll also be aware that the nature of the victory, rather than the win itself, may be the decisive factor when the UFC weighs up its options at the top of the lightweight division once the clash of Alvarez and McGregor is in the books.
After staging events on eight consecutive weekends between 20 August and 8 October, UFC action has been absent for the past four weeks. That hiatus ends tonight with a show that kicks off at the slightly more reasonable time of 10pm (Irish time), with the main card beginning at 2am — an hour earlier than is normally the case.
In addition to the main attraction, fights like Diego Sanchez-Marcin Held, Ricardo Lamas-Charles Oliveira [which is still going ahead despite Oliveira missing weight by nine pounds] and Beneil Dariush-Rashid Magomedov might just about make a late night in front of the TV worthwhile.
Who will emerge victorious from tonight’s main event?
Poll Results:
TUF Latin America 3 Finale
Main card (BT Sport 2, 2am)
Rafael Dos Anjos vs. Tony Ferguson
Diego Sanchez vs. Marcin Held
Ricardo Lamas vs. Charles Oliveira
Martin Bravo vs. Claudio Puelles
Beneil Dariush vs. Rashid Magomedov
Alexa Grasso vs. Heather Jo Clark
TV prelims (BT Sport 2 and UFC Fight Pass, 12am)
Erik Perez vs. Felipe Arantes
Marco Beltran vs. Joe Soto
Erick Montano vs. Max Griffin
Henry Briones vs. Douglas Silva de Andrade
Early prelims (UFC Fight Pass, 10pm)
Sam Alvey vs. Alex Nicholson
Marco Polo Reyes vs. Jason Novelli
Enrique Barzola vs. Chris Avila
