Rafael dos Anjos renews calls for Conor McGregor fight: “We already have a history”

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos is once again calling for a fight with former two-division champ Conor McGregor.

Dos Anjos and McGregor were briefly scheduled to fight in 2016. Dos Anjos, then the lightweight champion, was slated to defend his belt against McGregor, the featherweight champion, who sought to become the sport’s first concurrent two-division titleholder. Unfortunately, the fight fell through when dos Anjos sustained an injury. McGregor then accepted a short-notice fight with Nate Diaz, which he ended up losing via submission.

Five years later, dos Anjos still wants a shot at McGregor, and with McGregor riding a tough loss to Dustin Poirier, he believes the timing for the matchup makes sense.

“I believe when I (was scheduled to fight) Conor he was in the best moment of his career, and I was in the best moment of my career,” dos Anjos told MMA Junkie. “I had the belt at the time, and I was feeling pretty confident at that time, and I was in great shape. Definitely, I think I’m a very bad matchup for Conor, especially for my style, my kicks and southpaw stance, my grappling skills, my wrestling skills. But that’s something that passed already. I think with the results of his last fights, I think our paths can cross again, but there’s so many options right now in that division.

“I think Conor would be a good fight because even though he’s coming off a loss, he still has a better position on the rankings than I do,” dos Anjos added. “I think he’d be a good option and he draws a lot of attention. It could be a good fight because we already have a history. But like I said, we still have all the good options. The division is crazy. It’s a good mix right now.”

While dos Anjos likes the idea of a fight with McGregor, that’s certainly not the only item on his menu in the lightweight division.

“I think anybody ahead of me in the rankings would be a good fight,” dos Anjos said. “I see Gaethje, he mentioned my name, Oliveira, all these guys, Chandler, even Tony (Ferguson). He’s coming off two losses, but he’s ahead of me in the rankings and could be a good (fight). Tony was a guy that beat me on the follow-up fight when I lost my title. It could be a good way for me to build up, to re-write my history again, and to have that rematch would be cool too.”

Who do you want to see Rafael dos Anjos fight next?