Dallas, Texas’s American Airlines Center will play host to UFC 185, and it was announced last night that UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis will be defending his title against challenger Rafael dos Anjos.
The 27 year old Pettis won his title by defeating Benson Henderson via submission in August 2013. From then on it was trying times for the newly crowned champions as a title defense against Josh Thompson fell through due to injury. Pettis then signed on to coach The Ultimate Fighter 20 against the man he defeated to retain his title this past December, Gilbert Melendez by guillotine choke, thus becoming the first man to stop the always tough Melendez.
It was a banner year in the career of Rafael dos Anjos, as his name appeared on many Fighter of the Year lists for 2014, highlited by a KO win over former lightweight champion Benson Henderson and the brutal beating he served up to Nate Diaz. The one blemish on his 2014, was a dominant loss to Khabib Nurmagomedoz, who would likely be the man facing Pettis if he weren’t still sidelined from a knee injury.
By: Tim Mutohfan
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