Preview: Dos Anjos vs. Fiziev
The Sanford MMA export will aim to climb higher in the Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight rankings when he faces Rafael dos Anjos in the UFC on ESPN 39 headliner this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Fiziev enters the cage on the strength five-fight winning streak. He last competed at UFC on ESPN 31, where he laid waste to Brad Riddell with a spinning wheel kick in the third round of their Dec. 4 encounter. Dos Anjos, meanwhile, has rattled off back-to-back victories. The former 155-pound champion last fought on March 5, when he was awarded a unanimous decision over Renato Carneiro at UFC 272.
As Fiziev and dos Anjos make final preparations ahead of their high-stakes showdown, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
37: Years of age for dos Anjos, who was born on Oct. 26, 1984 in Niteroi, Brazil.
10: Dos Anjos wins by submission, accounting for 32% of his career total (31). His methods of choice: four rear-naked chokes, three armbars, two arm-triangle chokes and one kimura. Dos Anjos holds five other wins by knockout or technical knockout and 16 more by decision.
1,642: Significant strikes landed by dos Anjos as a member of the UFC roster, placing him fifth on the promotion’s all-time list. Only Max Holloway (2,975), Frankie Edgar (1,799), Joanna Jedrzejczyk (1,754) and Donald Cerrone (1,748) have connected with more.
106: Rounds completed by dos Anjos as a professional mixed martial artist. He has gone the distance on 26 different occasions and carries a 16-10 record in those bouts.
292: Combined victories between the 13 opponents—Michael Chiesa, Leon Edwards, Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington, Tony Ferguson, Eddie Alvarez, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Gleison Tibau, Clay Guida, Tyson Griffin, Jeremy Stephens, Jorge Britto and Adriano Abu—who have beaten dos Anjos. They boast a cumulative .736 winning percentage (292-104-1).
29: Years of age for Fiziev, who was born in Korday, Kazakhstan, on March 5, 1993.
7: Fiziev victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 64% of his career total (11). His list of UFC victims: Riddell and Carneiro. Fiziev owns one other victory by submission—he put away Gunduz Nabiev with a first-round rear-naked choke at a Kyrgyzstan MMA Federation event in October 2016—and three more by decision.
58: Seconds needed for Fiziev to strike down Nandin-Erdene Munguntsooj with a head kick and follow-up punches under the Road Fighting Championship banner on Dec. 23, 2017. Having occurred four-plus years ago, it remains his fastest finish to date.
9: Countries in which Fiziev has plied his mixed martial arts trade. He has gone 3-0 in the United States, 2-0 in South Korea, 1-0 in China, 1-0 Kyrgyzstan, 1-0 in Thailand, 1-0 in Kazakhstan, 1-0 in Singapore, 1-0 in the United Arab Emirates and 0-1 in Russia.
200,000: Dollars in post-fight bonuses banked by Fiziev across his six UFC appearances. He has been awarded “Fight of the Night” on two occasions and “Performance of the Night” on two others.