Rafael Dos Anjos impressed tonight with good stand-up and mat work en-route to a convincing decision victory over Donald Cerrone.
The co-main event is underway. Cerrone lands a hard leg kick and then flicks up a head kick which is blocked.
Dos Anjos responds with a solid body kick. A knee from cerrone just misses. Hard body kicks exchange by both men.
Dos Anjos connects with a hook to the head. Another body kick too. Cerrone with a solid knee to the body.
Nice work for Dos Anjos firing off a brief combination of punches, he’s been quite aggressive so far.
Suddenly a right hook from Dos Anjos drops Cerrone, but he seems ok and gets right back to his feet. Dos Anjos takes him to the mat, but from his back Cerrone’s looking for a possible triangle choke. Dos Anjos shrugs him off though and remains on top.
Inside Cerrone’s guard now Dos Anjos landing some hard elbows to the head and the occasional punch until the round ends.
Round two underway and Dos Anjos flicking off some leg kicks to begin. a leg kick comes back from Cerrone, but Dos Anjos blasts one to the body.
Body shot then upstairs with a hook that just misses from Dos Anjos. Jab sends Cerrone’s head back and then a knee lands to the head.
Exceelent fight from Dos Anjos so far, but Cerrone’s not out of this by any means and he suddenly rushes forward and lands a takedown.
From inside of his opponent’s half-guard he stays patient and tries to improve his position, but Dos Anjos is being crafty underneath him and eventually manages to wriggle free and get upright.
They clinch against the cage briefly and then break apart. Cerrone lands a couple of left hands and then eats a body kick.
Dos Anjos working hard for a takedown and gets it in the final minute. Cerrone stays active off his back though and so Dos Anjos is unable to get much offense away before the round ends.
Final round now and a head kick from Dos Anjos just wings past Cerrone’s head. He lands a big leg kick.
Again Dos Anjos kicks to the head and it’s blocked this time. Cerrone reaches for a takedown and then aborts it.
Cerrone looks for a knee and eats a right hand in return.
Good front kick from Cerrone to the body of his opponent. again he lands it. Dos Anjos presses forward with a takedown, getting him up against the cage and then tries to pull him to the mat, but Cerrone does a good job of keeping his balance this tim.
Dos Anjos still has him pressed up against the cage, but Cerrone spins out neatly and gets out of danger.
Another leg kick from Cerrone almost knocks his opponent off-balance. Knee lands for Cerrone too. Couple of leg kicks from him as well as he enjoys a good spell in the fight.
Dos Anjos much less aggressive now and when he does fire off a combination it misses the target.
With 30 seconds to go he cracks off a nicew combination, but for the most part he’s just trying to run down the clock now which he does successfully.
Very good performance from Dos Anjos overall then and it’s enough to earn him a big unanimous decision victory over Cerrone (29-28 x3), extending his winning streak in the lightweight division to five fights.
