“UFC lightweight division isn’t the belt he got in Ireland when he fought a guy with a record of 2-7. It’s a different world. He fought guys that don’t even have Sherdog pages. He holds belts off his amateur show in Ireland. It’s a different story to hold two UFC belts. Lightweight division is a different story. We’ll see. Everybody talks. Anthony Pettis talked before the fight. Donald Cerrone talked before the fight. See what happened? I’ll let him talk and we’ll see what happens. I hope he’s training hard. I think he’s going to be scared once I hit him… [Him calling me a traitor] doesn’t make any sense. We have a lot of Brazilians in the United States. It doesn’t mean we’re traitors to our country. I’ve got kids and I had to move for different things like better wrestling training partners here. I think that was a frustrated way to try to win the Brazilian fans. This guy is out of his mind. He’s going to try to do his best to try to mess with my head. I don’t hate him, but the Brazilians do. Brazil is on my side.”
-UFC Lightweight Champ Rafael dos Anjos responds to Conor McGregor calling him a traitor to Brazil in an interview with MMAFighting.com, and about what’s coming for McGregor at UFC 197.
Penick’s Analysis: They don’t have nearly as much time to build things up as McGregor and Jose Aldo did, but this is going to get good over the next month and a half. It’s an interesting dynamic, because a McGregor loss could certainly make him take a hit as far as his transcendent draw is concerned, while a win catapults him even further. Meanwhile, dos Anjos could still be the one with more to lose simply because McGregor will still have his Featherweight Title even with the loss. B.J. Penn remained a star Lightweight Champion even after his loss to Georges St-Pierre back at UFC 94, so the loss isn’t the end of the line for McGregor. A loss would be for dos Anjos, and that’s going to make for a highly intriguing fight on March 5.
[Photo (c) Joe Camporeale via USA Today Sports]
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