Rafael dos Anjos defeated Paul Felder in the main event of the UFC Fight Night 182 via split decision. Even though it is a split decision, the Brazilian was more than confident in this contest, outperforming the rival in all five rounds.
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That decision came with two 50-45 scorings for dos Anjos, and one 47-48 for Felder. It appears that judge Chris Lee who scored in Felder’s favor, did that to show appreciation his courageous decision to take the bout one a five-day notice. That would allow the fighter to have an honorable defeat as he already entered the fight with a significant deficit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixNp5T7m2p0
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Overall, dos Anjos (30-13 MMA, 19-11 UFC) was much better, scoring hits from a distance before retreating, and posting a few takedowns, after which he worked well on the ground using his superiority over Felder (17-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) in this aspect of the fight. The Irish Dragon tried to use his jabs to keep the separation but never managed to put up a combo that would hurt dos Anjos or make him shaky.
Eventually, Felder looked bashed and smashed, but he would never take a step back, staying on his feet until the very end. He would avoid dos Anjos’ attempts to solve the match on the ground, earning massive respect for going to the distance against the former lightweight champion.
Felder had to cut 22 pounds in the last five days sources say, and he managed to do that without any problems. The downside was that he lost a lot of energy. The American was preparing for a triathlon race, and according to his words, his cardio was very good, which was the reason why he had the stamina to endure all five rounds. However, there was no time for him for all other preparations.
#UFCVegas14 Official Scorecard: Paul Felder vs Rafael Dos Anjos
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Felder, who even mentioned retirement, has a motive to return to the MMA following this fight. Going five rounds against the former champion and one of the best in the division, without a decent training camp, suggests that he might make big results in normal conditions.
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-->On the other side, dos Anjos already named his next opponent. The Brazilian would like to face Conor McGregor, who announced a comeback recently. The two were supposed to meet several years ago, but that bout never happened for various reasons. dos Anjos now wants to attack the title once again and knows that he needs to face the Notorious sooner or later.