Outside Source
Former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will attempt to stop the hype surrounding Islam Makhachev when they meet at UFC 267 on Oct. 30 in Abu Dhabi.
Multiple sources confirmed the matchup to MMA Fighting on Tuesday after dos Anjos initially revealed the offer for the fight on social media. At the time, dos Anjos had already verbally accepted the date, location and opponent but Makhachev hadn’t received the offer yet as he was returning home to Russia following a win over Thiago Moises in July.
Now the highly touted Russian lightweight has accepted the fight with Makhachev looking to build upon his current eight-fight win streak in the division.
Meanwhile, dos Anjos returned to 155 pounds this past November and earned a win over Paul Felder in a five-round main event. That was the Brazilian’s first appearance at lightweight since 2016 after he suffered back-to-back losses to Eddie Alvarez and Tony Ferguson.
Of course, dos Anjos previously held the UFC lightweight title after he won a lopsided decision over Anthony Pettis and then defended the belt with a first-round TKO against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone.
The fight between dos Anjos and Makhachev will join the growing lineup at UFC 267, which is expected to feature a pair of title bouts at the top of the card as Jan Blachowicz puts his light heavyweight strap up for grabs against Glover Teixeira while Aljamain Sterling faces off with Petr Yan with the bantamweight title on the line.
This article first appeared at MMA Fighting – All Posts
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