UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor is moving up to 155-pounds to try and claim the title from Rafael dos Anjos on March 5th at UFC 196 in Las Vegas. However, despite it being the 27-year-old Irishman’s first fight at lightweight in over three years, the oddsmakers have “The Notorious” as the betting odds favorite at -140 and dos Anjos as the underdog at +120.
Should that be the case? Or is that a good thing and you’re expecting dos Anjos will win and you can add a fat stack to you bankroll on Bet Bind?
McGregor (19-2) has been cleaning house at featherweight since debuting in the UFC in 2013. He’s had seven fights inside the Octagon at 145-pounds and he’s knocked out six of the opponents. Only Max Holloway took McGregor the distance but the current No. 4 ranked featherweight was beaten decisively. And that fight took place in 2013 in what was only the Irishman’s second UFC fight. He’s only gotten better. More confident. More precise. Case in point is his 13-second destruction of longtime 145-pound king Jose Aldo in December.
“Mystic Mac” also seems to have some connection to his Celtic ancestors’ ability to foresee the future, and has up until this point pretty much predicted every single thing he has accomplished inside the Octagon. He speaks what he wants and makes it happen. Does Conor McGregor really possess The Secret?
https://youtu.be/NpForJXfxqo
Or is Rafael dos Anjos (25-7) going to expose the champion four years his junior? We’ve seen McGregor forced to deal with getting taken down by the likes of Chad Mendes, but Mendes was unable to capitalize on the ground. Both of Conor’s losses outside the UFC were by submission and dos Anjos, a third-degree BJJ black belt, could certainly get the job done as well.
Dos Anjos has been in the UFC since 2008 and has had some ups and downs but he’s consistently improved and has never looked better. He’s won his last five in a row including a TKO over Jason High, a first-round knockout of Benson Henderson, unanimous decisions over Nate Diaz and Anthony Pettis, and a first round TKO of Donald Cerrone in December where he made “Cowboy” look amateurish. That’s a helluva resume. But so is the premeditated 13-second laser beam snipering McGregor put on the former pound-for-pound king Aldo.
Here’s the best thing about this fight. We’re getting two professional mixed martial arts champions in their prime fighting each other in a bonafide super fight. If the Irishman is able to topple the Brazilian on March 5th it will be the first time in UFC history a fighter has held two belts at the same time in two different divisions. And Conor says when he does that he wants to then go for the 170-pound title. If he’s able to pull this off against dos Anjos, then who’s going to tell him he can’t also try to do it at welterweight?