Rafael dos Anjos moving past missed opportunity with Conor McGregor

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, July 6, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Rafael dos Anjos headlined the first event of International Fight Week, galvanizing a crowd assembled Tuesday to the side of the MGM Grand sports book as the last fighter to participate in open workouts.

The lightweight champion could have stirred a much larger horde as the final fighter at the last event of the week if circumstances would have broken slightly differently.

If Conor McGregor would have defeated Nate Diaz in March, it stands to reason that the UFC may have rebooked a bout between McGregor and dos Anjos as the main event of Saturday’s UFC 200.

“For me, it doesn’t matter,” dos Anjos insisted. “My job is to get ready and defend the belt. Whoever the UFC puts in front of me, the job is to take care of them.”

Dos Anjos still gets to attempt his second title defense as part of International Fight Week, meeting Eddie Alvarez in the main event of UFC Fight Night 90 Thursday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It just won’t come with the same stature.

Only a fraction of viewers that would have tuned in to see his originally scheduled UFC 196 fight with McGregor on pay-per-view figure to stream the contest against Alvarez on UFC Fight Pass. Dos Anjos’ payday projects as even more drastically diminished.

The UFC is notoriously tight-lipped about fighter pay, but given that McGregor has set near pay-per-view records in two straight fights, it’s likely dos Anjos would have made into seven figures off the fight.

“I fight for money to supply my family, but money doesn’t come first in my life,” dos Anjos said. “I think anybody that puts money first doesn’t go well. I put God first in my life and everything else behind that ... I think you have a good legacy, that’s what’s most important.”

A win over Alvarez could certainly help in that department. As the former Bellator champion, Alvarez was regarded as one of the best lightweights in the world for years.

He’s padded that résumé with back-to-back wins over former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez and former UFC champion Anthony Pettis. Alvarez said he didn’t come into either of those bouts as prepared as he is for dos Anjos.

Alvarez went back to his roots, training with head coach Mark Henry as well as Frankie Edgar, who challenges Jose Aldo for the interim featherweight championship at UFC 200. He said he partook in an astronomic 150 or more live sparring rounds to get ready for dos Anjos.

“You go to bed late, you wake up early — that’s someone who loves what they do and you need to do that in fighting in order to be at the top,” Alvarez said. “If you’re talking about over-training, you need to be out of the game.”

Dos Anjos, as well as most others, believes a fighter can train to a degree that it’s detrimental, though he said that’s not what happened to him heading into the McGregor fight. A freak accident on a leg kick led to his injury.

The Los Angeles-based fighter was back training less than three months later, but the big-money opportunity had passed after Diaz, dos Anjos’ replacement, submitted McGregor in the second round. Although dos Anjos already holds a victory over Diaz, he never thought what could have been if he didn’t get hurt.

He doesn’t see getting another chance soon as particularly likely either, given how he expects a rematch between Diaz and McGregor at UFC 202 on Aug. 20 to play out.

“It’s hard to not go with Diaz because that guy didn’t have a fight camp and still beat Conor,” dos Anjos said. “I think Diaz will beat him again.”

Dos Anjos believes that would send McGregor back down to unify his featherweight title with the winner of Aldo vs. Edgar. McGregor would conceivably need to win that fight and defend his belt a time or two before entertaining a move to lightweight.

Dos Anjos’ goal is to stay champion until that happens. He might not be fixated on the money McGregor promises, but he’s not going to turn it down either.

“The day he wants to come to lightweight and the UFC thinks he deserves a shot, I will be there,” dos Anjos said. “He is welcomed.”