Rafael Dos Anjos Out For Third Time Against Islam Makhachev
Rafael Dos Anjos suffered another injury and is pulling from his matchup with Islam Makhachev, again.
It has been the third time where dos Anjos and Makhachev were supposed to share the octagon. But reportedly the former lightweight champion suffered an injury and was forced to be out of the battle. Makhachev said he doesn’t believe it.
@RdosAnjosMMA I don’t believe that you’re injured.., again #chickenfever
— Makhachev Islam (@MAKHACHEVMMA) September 26, 2021
The former champion immediately answered his tweet.
Do you really think I would fake a surgery? Coming out of another terrible injury. Unlike you I have a family that depends on me and I don’t have another man paying my bills. https://t.co/PDvQ2rhZsq
— Rafael dos Anjos (@RdosAnjosMMA) September 26, 2021
Makhachev and dos Anjos were originally scheduled for UFC 254 in October 2020, but dos Anjos caught COVID-19 and could not fight. It was rescheduled for UFC Fight Night 182 in November, but then Makhachev caught a bad staph infection forcing him to withdraw.
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Makhachev’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, is already working with the UFC to find a new opponent for Makhachev. He said the only fighters who are ranked and make sense to fight Makhachev are Tony Ferguson and Dan Hooker.
Makhachev has exchanged some words with Ferguson many times before. He once said that he wants to help “El Cucuy” with retiring from MMA.
Makhachev has also said that Hooker was scared of fighting him, but Hooker disagreed.
Here’s the latest UFC 267 lineup:
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira – for light heavyweight title
- Petr Yan vs. Corey Sandhagen
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Volkan Oezdemir
- Islam Makhachev vs. opponent TBA
- Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Volkov
- Khamzat Chimaev vs. Li Jingliang
- Shamil Gamzatov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
- Virna Jandiroba vs. Amanda Ribas
- Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
- Damir Ismagulov vs. Magomed Mustafaev
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. opponent TBA
- Alen Amedovski vs. Hu Yaozong
- Allan Nascimento vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
- Albert Duraev vs. Roman Kopylov
- Walt Harris vs. Tai Tuivasa