Rafael Dos Anjos Not Resting On His Recent Octagon Success

But with a memorable second-round knockout of the former UFC heavyweight champion now in the books, Overeem can in fact look to his future.

In one of the best lightweight fights of the year, Nate Diaz (18-10) defeated Michael Johnson (16-10) via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28) in a back-and-forth slugfest that saw a combined 246 total strikes landed.

The UFC on FOX 17 results are in!

RDA no longer under the radar.

So we know that both dos Anjos and Cerrone want McGregor, but who does McGregor want?

Still, Cerrone is much more likely to engage McGregor in a striking battle, and at this point in time it is hard to pick anybody over McGregor in that kind of fight.

He hasn’t fought since May, when the UFC chose to keep him healthy for his title shot while Dos Anjos recovered slowly from a knee injury.

Cerrone never moved to try to get away from the assault and referee Herb Dean jumped in to stop it.

McGregor, who boasts a record of 19 victories and two defeats, would certainly be a tough test for Dos Anjos and is more than capable of engaging him in a stand-up war.

Conor has already expressed his interest in defending the titles regularly, and if history has shown us anything, it is that Conor gets what he wants.

Overeem didn’t take many changes in the opening round but caught Dos Santos in the second, opening up a nasty cut above his right eye as he increased his work rate.

A technical mastermind with his submissions, McCrory stayed active on the mat over three rounds to finally sink in a triangle choke on Josh Samman that cerainly proved he belongs back in the Octagon.

Shortly after, dos Anjos connected to the same side of the body once more, this time with a leg kick. Kowalkiewicz was making her UFC debut. A few hammer fists later, the fight was over.

Consider this: In dos Anjos’ first 27 fights he only managed two finishes by KO or TKO, and one came by way of doctor’s stoppage.

Yet he’s still Cowboy: After spending last weekend in Las Vegas for UFC 194, Cerrone and his friends drove their RV cross-country to the fight, even stopping for a full day along the way to get it fixed. He is in great bargaining position to call his next opportunity.

Diaz, methinks, will have to make do with his win over Johnson and a successful return to the octagon after having just over a year off following a loss to dos Anjos. He is a notoriously slow starter and that plagued him again on Saturday. I mean, it’s not a dream fight, but it should still be one helluva battle.

UFC vet and former Strikeforce middleweight champion Nate Marquardt showed he still has a bit of fight in him after catching C.B. Dollaway with a nasty right hook to prematurely end his opponent’s night at the start of the second round. After four straight victories, Johnson lost a controversial split decision to Beneil Dariush back in August.