It’s fair to say Rafael dos Anjos is on the back end of his fighting career.
The 37-year-old Brazilian is a former UFC lightweight champion who has been in the promotion for nearly 14 years and is approaching two decades as a pro fighter. His resume is littered with Hall of Fame-worthy names.
Recently, he said he thinks he’s reached the point in his career at which he just wants to take fun fights against fellow longtime fighters. He had one in 2020 against Paul Felder; their Fight of the Night came in dos Anjos’ return to lightweight after several years at 170 pounds.
But in July, the UFC matched him up with Rafael Fiziev, a 29-year-old who quickly is climbing the ranks. Fiziev knocked him out in the fifth round of their main event, which may have been a signal to RDA that getting back into title contention may be a tall order.
So if dos Anjos doesn’t want to fight the Fizievs of the division, should he be allowed to stick around in the UFC’s official rankings? Or should he just get the ol’ heave-ho, considering he won’t be looking for fights that will necessarily elicit a climb, but instead ones that just are matchups against old-school names like him?
That’s the question we asked our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Mike Bohn and Nolan King, who discussed the topic with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia. You can watch their conversation in the video above, or check out this week’s full episode below.
