Getty Conor McGregor meets fans at a Reebok UFC Combat Gear retail event held at JD Sports on October 22, 2015 in Dublin, Ireland.
Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos is picking a fight with recently retired Conor “Notorious” McGregor. The Brazilian fighter, who is known to many as “RDA” was scheduled to defend his strap against Notorious in 2016, however, he broke his foot and was forced out of the fight. As history has it, Nate Diaz stepped in to fight Notorious on short notice and defeated the Irishman in a welterweight match at UFC 196.
After their match fell through, RDA and McGregor have never been officially scheduled to fight again, which is something dos Anjos blames him for. On June 12, the Brazilian called out Notorious on Twitter, writing: “Let’s do it [Conor McGregor] if you’re looking for a fight I’m the guy. 155, 165 or 170 you know I’m always game. F—k this retirement s—t.”
He followed up the tweet: “No more ‘if’s’ let’s make it happen.”
No more “if’s” let’s make it happen @danawhite @seanshelby @ChaelSonnen @ufc
Since his retirement, McGregor has yet to publicly speak about fighting, let alone respond to RDA’s call out. When McGregor announced his third retirement in five years, he cited one of the reasons for doing so as not being excited about his opponent options. It’s unclear if RDA would excite the Irishman enough to bring him out of retirement.
Dos Anjos doesn’t believe Notorious is finished inside the Octagon. He told MMA Junkie, “I don’t believe he’s retiring right now. That’s his third time retiring. I’m not buying that. I don’t think nobody is buying that. He’s too young and I believe he still has a lot in him. I don’t think he’s retiring right now.”
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RDA Blames McGregor for the Fallout of Their Potential Interim Welterweight Title Fight
Dos Anjos told MMA Junkie that he and McGregor were supposed to fight at UFC 224 for the interim welterweight title. However, before the fight was officially announced by the UFC, Notorious attacked the bus carrying Khabib Nurmagomedov during UFC 223 Media Day. The infamous moment can be watched above.
After the incident, McGregor faced legal charges and he was unable to fight RDA for the belt. Instead, dos Anjos was scheduled to face Colby Covington for the interim welterweight belt at UFC 225, and he lost the match by unanimous decision.
To RDA, both he and McGregor have each pulled out of one match. Dos Anjos told MMA Junkie: “UFC was going to make the announcement we were going to fight for the interim title in Brazil, the welterweight title, but that wasn’t my fault. That was his fault. He decided to break the bus and then it didn’t happen. Everything happens for a reason.”
At that point in time, a fight between RDA and McGregor would have been a megafight. RDA was on an impressive 3-fight win streak which included a victory over former welterweight champ Robbie Lawler, and McGregor would have competed for his third UFC belt in a different weight class.
RDA Explains Why He Believes a Fight Between Him & McGregor Makes Sense
In his interview with MMA Junkie, dos Anjos explained why he believes a fight between him and McGregor makes sense. He said, “If you look at the whole situation, with me and Conor, I am ahead of him in the rankings at welterweight and this fight was supposed to happen four years ago and it didn’t happen. That would be a great fight. That’s the fight to make.”
Although Notorious has competed three times at welterweight, including his last fight against Donald Cerrone, the Irishman is not ranked at welterweight. Notorious is, however, ranked at No. 4 in the lightweight division. RDA, who moved up from lightweight in 2017, has fought eight times at welterweight and is currently ranked at No. 9.
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