The fight was expected to deliver nonstop action and it did not disappoint. Rafael dos Anjos and Evan Dunham battled for a full three rounds of intense exchanges in a war of attrition that ended with dos Anjos extending his win streak to four with a unanimous decision victory.
Evan Dunham immediately took the center of the cage but it was dos Anjos that struck first with a stinging leg kick. Dunham continued to come forward, throwing a laser-straight one-two combination, but dos Anjos showed his continued improvement on his feet, landing with punch-kick combinations while alternating to the body. Dunham went to his jab looking to get his attack on track, then landed with a counter that ended with him on top. After a stall in the action, the fight was restarted, resulting in dos Anjos firing off a flurry to end off a really solid round for the brazilian.
Both fighters came out aggressive in the second, but it was Dunham that capitalized first, ducking under a punch to get a quick takedown. The fight didn’t stay on the mat long as dos Anjos scrambled back to his feet to resume the battle in the center of the cage. Dunham finally found his rhythm with his jab as the round wore on, using it to set up his takedown attempts. Dos Anjos managed to defend perfectly, but came out with a nasty cut that appeared to come from a headbutt. Despite the cut, dos Anjos continued to land with power shots as Dunham stuck to his jab. Dunham finally started scoring with straight combinations forcing dos Anjos to counter more as round wore on. Dunham managed a takedown right before the bell to cap off a very close round.
The action picked right back up to start the third with Dunham coming forward throwing combinations while dos Anjos countered. Both fighters engaged in repeated exchanges, with Dunham landing the cleaner shots, while dos Anjos landed with more power. The pressure of Dunham continued as he pursued coming forward. A couple of failed takedowns did little to slow Dunham down as he resumed his attack coming straight ahead. Dos Anjos scored with his counter game but found himself pressed on the cage eating shots to the body. With under a minute to go, a restart took the fight right back to the brawl that it had been through and both fighters continued to throw to the bell.
After a full three rounds of action, the judges gave the nod to Rafael dos Anjos (19-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) with scores of 29-28 across the board. The victory extends the win streak of dos Anjos to four.