UFC 185: Pettis vs. dos Anjos

Anthony Pettis (18-2-0) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (23-7-0)

Anthony “Showtime” Pettis attempts to win his sixth straight fight and defend the lightweight title against Rafael dos Anjos.

Pettis earned the shot at the lightweight title following three consecutive solid fights in which he had two first round knockouts. He then took on a tough Benson Henderson for rights to the belt and had no issues taking him down with an armbar submission towards the end of the first round. “Showtime” brings to the octagon exactly what his nickname states, a show, as he has training in a multitude of different fighting styles and has the athletic ability to create some amazing knockouts. On the other side, dos Anjos has been given his first chance at a title behind a recent three-fight winning streak in which he has won twice by a knockout punch. He only has one loss to his credit since the start of 2012 and typically goes the full length of the bout, winning by decision in five of the eight victories; all of which were three rounds. Pettis certainly has the upper-hand here with his ability to get creative and also sneak in plenty of knockouts but he will need to make sure he doesn’t wear himself down against a fighter who has no issues taking the fight to its maximum number of rounds.

Anthony Pettis is an exciting fighter to watch with his high-flying kicks which allow him to either get a surprise knockout or just get his opposition on the ground where he has the strength to earn a submission. All-in-all, Pettis has 18 victories to his name, eight coming via submission, seven by knockout and just two by way of decision. His only two losses also came after a full slate of rounds; one of which was a split decision. While he is creative with his approach, he is not overly aggressive, landing a mere 2.2 significant strikes per minute on a solid 44% accuracy. The big advantage for “Showtime” is the unexpected takedown as his competitors cannot often predict when he is coming with a specific type of attack, and when he does he typically can get them on the mat with 76% of his takedown attempts ending in success. His athleticism also warrants an impressive defense as he deflects 64% of strikes attempted and 69% of takedown tries. Pettis has the edge in age, height, reach and athletic ability in this one, so a loss would be a big disappointment.

Rafael dos Anjos had a rough start to his UFC career, losing four of his first eight fights with all four of the losses going the full three rounds. Since then he has just one defeat in the last nine attempts and has really showed up recently with two knockouts against Jason High and Benson Henderson, followed by a dominating performance and a unanimous decision in his last matchup with Nate Diaz in December. In that fight, he landed 77 significant strikes on 119 attempts (64%) and showed incredible defense with Diaz landing just 13-of-104 (12%). This was a very solid showing and his striking accuracy in the match was much higher than his career average of 39%. His pace is a little quicker than his opponents in this one, as he averages 2.9 significant strikes per minute, but opens himself up to some pain with 2.4 strikes absorbed per minute. With his solid yet unspectacular defense, this will be a tough fight to take all five rounds against a super talented fighter like “Showtime” Pettis.