Sherdog.com’s 2015 Beatdown of the Year

5. Rafael dos Anjos vs. Anthony Pettis
UFC 185
Saturday, March 14
American Airlines Center | Dallas
Rafael dos Anjos’ upset lightweight title capture at UFC 185 in March may be remembered for its surprising, even shocking one-sidedness, but it does not necessarily leap to mind as a “beatdown.” There were no 10-8 rounds, no blood-stained canvas, and there were no instantly famous cageside photos of the mayhem. None of that changes the essential kernel of the fight, though: dos Anjos whipped Anthony Pettis.

A 90-54 advantage in significant strikes, 144-96 in total strikes, is an impressive margin that numerically seems consistent with a tidy, victorious five-round performance. Alas, fights happen in cages and not on hypothetical paper or in spreadsheets. If they did happen in the latter realm, Pettis would certainly be better off for it.

Dos Anjos, in spite of his clear, well-rounded improvements and accomplishments en route to his UFC title bid, was a +400 underdog for a reason: Pettis might just be the most dynamic, dazzling offensive fighter in MMA history. By that measure, the whipping that dos Anjos handed out is even more impressive, as he bullied, grounded and pounded on dos Pettis for the better part of 25 minutes.

There was not a single round in which Pettis was seriously competitive, not even in the first round, where he landed 19 significant strikes, his largest output of the fight by far. Dos Anjos hit him with left hands standing and slammed him around the cage effortlessly, taking him down in every single round while keeping up a workmanlike pace of socking “Showtime” in the face from top position. It was like watching a brilliant artist entirely forget what beauty was; one of MMA’s offensive wizards looked clueless in a way nobody saw coming. Part of the true nastiness in this beating is that one of the first serious left hands that dos Anjos landed in round one smashed Pettis’ right orbital bone and was possibly the primary culprit in his post-fight concussion diagnoses, as well.

“He caught me with the left hand, the first punch he threw, [and] I couldn’t see out of my right eye the whole time. It closed up on me, I didn’t have any peripheral [vision],” Pettis said.

As the dust settled, folks reflected on dos Anjos’ commanding blowout win and learned of how badly Pettis had been busted up. It spawned a whole sub-conversation as to whether or not Pettis’ trainer Duke Roufus was right to let his charge continue despite Pettis telling him he could not see. I do not believe Roufus did anything wrong keeping his fighter in the fight. The reason Roufus was right to send Pettis, one of the most supernaturally gifted fighters we have ever seen, back into the cage round after round is the same reason it is amazing that dos Anjos put such a shellacking on him: He is that dangerous. However, if your cornering decisions spawn conversations of their own pertaining to the larger philosophical underpinnings of MMA and whether fighters routinely take too much unnecessary damage, then yes, your fighter got beat down.