Tyson Griffin vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Two extremely promising Lightweight prospects are set to clash in the form of Tyson Griffin and Rafael Dos Anjos. Both men have a world of promise, but both are also coming off losses, which means this one should be extremely hard-fought and competitive.
Dos Anjos, a skilled grappler from Brazil’s Gracie Fusion camp, came into the UFC with high expectations after an impressive career on smaller shows and in Japan. Those expectations were blown out of the water, though, when he suffered one of the most memorable and vicious knockouts in UFC history at the hands of Jeremy Stephens. Even so, Dos Anjos still has all the skills that made him such a hot prospect in the division to begin with, most notably a very dangerous submission attack.
Griffin is well-known as a wrestler who likes to ride fights out on top, so he may well be playing right into Rafael’s gameplan by shooting for the takedown. Xtreme Couture’s Griffin is no stranger to big fights. Despite having only 14 career fights, Griffin has already faced a huge variety of top-level fighters. His only two losses are to top contender Frankie Edgar and former Lightweight champion Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk.
On top of that, he has garnered wins against the likes of Urijah Faber, Duane Ludwig, Clay Guida, Thiago Tavares, Gleison Tibau, and Marcus Aurelio, all forces to be reckoned with. While he does tend to win by decision, no one can claim that Griffin isn’t also exciting, as is evidenced by his string of Fight of the Night bonuses.
Ultimately, Griffin’s experience level, cardio, powerful wrestling, and world-class training camp will prove too much for dos Anjos to overcome. While he is no doubt a skilled grappler, dos Anjos is going to have a lot of problems generating movement under Griffin’s smothering top control.
I see Griffin riding this fight out mainly inside Dos Anjo’s guard, keeping him at bay with ground and pound en route to the unanimous decision.
