March 06, (THEWILL) – The path of Rafael dos Anjos to UFC 272 was anything but routine, with a rescheduled fight and a late opponent switch but he put all those distractions to rest when he left his opponent bloodied before the bout ended.
The former lightweight champion put on a clinic in taking apart Renato Moicano in their 160-pound catchweight bout at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas once the cage doors closed on Saturday night.
When Rafael Fiziev tested positive with COVID-19, Moicano came into the bout on a five-day notice, replacing him for the UFC 272 fight. Even when Moicano stepped in, the fight with Fiziev was shifted from an original February 19 date to serve as the UFC 272 co-main event.
Dos Anjos was the sharper fighter from the start, combining good punching with takedowns and a devastating ground attack. When dos Anjos downed Moicano with a clean head kick in the second round, it appeared improbable that the fight would last the entire 25 minutes.
Moicano, though plainly not as sharp as usual due to the late notice, brought plenty of passion to the Octagon. Moicano kept attempting to make something positive happen, throwing strikes when he had the chance, even as the damage mounted up, leaving his face a mess of scratches and welts.
Moicano’s camp refused to stop the fight after the third round, despite their boxer taking significant damage. After checking with the ringside medic, referee Marc Goddard decided to keep the fight going.
The doctor told Goddard it would be appropriate to stop the fight before the fifth round, but Moicano could theoretically see out of his gravely injured eye. Moicano made a late comeback, landing a flurry of clean punches down the stretch, but it was not enough to prevent a decisive loss on the scorecards.
The bout was judged 49-45, 49-44, and 50-44 by the three official judges.
It was dos Anjos’ first fight since November 2020. For the first time since 2017, he has won back-to-back contests.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
