It’s an all-Brazilian affair this Saturday (Aug 12th) in the main event when the UFC returns home to the familiar Apex venue in Las Vegas, Nevada. The two Brazilians battling it out in the main event are former Lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos against the always exciting, Vicente Luque. There are 12 fights on this card Saturday, also a stacked Bellator card taking place tonight (Aug 11th), and AJ getting back in the ring for the boxing. Vicente Luque, the No. 10 ranked Welterweight will look to snap his current two-fight skid but it’s gonna be anything but easy against the former champ and UFC vet Rafael dos Anjos. The oddsmakers are expecting a close one with dos Anjos as a slim favourite as things currently stand.
Vicente Luque’s last outing was a loss to Geoff Neal last August, he got finished in the third round after taking a bit of a beating in the previous two rounds. That loss was the second straight defeat for Luque who had previously lost to Belal Muhammed in a bout where he had the better of the striking battle but got taken down five times which led to more than seven minutes of control time resulting in a loss for Vicente by way of decision. Prior to the two consecutive losses, Luque had won four fights on the spin, picking up three performance bonuses during that time. Luque is a man that guarantees action with strong boxing and knockout power. He’s also a strong grappler with a black belt in BJJ and eight career wins by way of submission.
Rafael dos Anjos on the other hand is coming off a second-round submission win against Bryan Barbarena last December. The former undisputed Lightweight champion initially made the jump to Welterweight in 2017 but after going 4-4 within the division, he went back down to 155 pounds. He then went on to pick up back-to-back decision victories in the Lightweight division, then he was knocked out by Rafael Fiziev last summer and decided to move back up to the Welterweight division for the Barbarena fight. RDA is a highly skilled and well-rounded fighter, who combines striking with solid wrestling and high-level BJJ skills. He’s currently 38 and facing off against the younger man in Luque who is 31 years old, Luque also has a five-inch reach advantage whereas RDA comes in with the experience advantage, this promises to be a great main event that is very much a 50/50 fight as far as I’m concerned.
In conclusion, I’m convinced after a bit of digging that Vicente Luque possesses the capabilities to bounce back with a victory this weekend. As previously mentioned above I do think this is a 50/50 fight that is incredibly difficult to call, although that is what I’m about to do. My official prediction is Rafael dos Anjos gets the job done via decision in a close competitive fight that could go either way but I’m going with experience this time, and the fact Luque has been struggling for form of late just made the decision a little easier. Nonetheless another solid weekend in the combat sports world, exciting times.
Subscribe
