Rafael dos Anjos scheduled to take on Anthony Njokuani in place of Paul Taylor – UFC News
According Ultimate Fighting Championship's announcement, Rafael dos Anjos, the Brazilian lightweight brawler, will now take on Anthony Njokuani, the Nigerian mixed martial art prospect, in a non-title three-round bout on UFC on Fuel TV 4 hence replacing
the injured previously scheduled Paul Taylor.
The duo will meet on the main fight card which will be headlined by the non-title middleweight bout between Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman whereas the showdown will be co-headlined by the much anticipated clash between Brandon Vera and James Te-Huna.
The octagon for the UFC’s fourth pay-per-view to be televised on Fuel TV will be set up at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California. This is the second time the UFC fans have heard the dismal news of Paul-Anthony clash getting cancelled.
According to the details available, Paul, who was undergoing a strenuous training, got injured during a sparring session. The inadvertent injury was so severe that Taylor was advised to forfeit the engagement.
The same scenario occurred in 2011 when Paul was all set to take on Anthony in UFC 138 on November 5, 2011. But this did not happen as Paul sustained a whiplash injury that eventually made him unfit to enter the octagon.
Rafael, 27, has been in a total 22 mixed martial art bouts and boasts a pretty intimidating resume. Basically a submission specialist, the Brazilian belligerent has emerged victorious in 16 bouts and has nailed eight opponents by submission, two by knockout
and the remaining six by either split or unanimous decision.
His opponent, Anthony, 32, has been in a total 22 bouts and emerged victorious in 15. The American prospect has nailed eight of his opponents by knockout and seven by unanimous decision.
Also known as ‘The Assassin’, Anthony has not collected even a single submission win, a facet evident of the fact that the Nigerian hailing pounder lacks the ability to undergo a ground game.
At the moment, the odds are undoubtedly in favour of Rafael. The only one thing that the Brazilian needs to do is evade Anthony’s powerful jabs and find a way to lock him in one of his lethal submission manoeuvres.
Anthony, on the other hand, is seriously outclassed by Rafael’s submission and resilience aspect. Njokuani has just one benefit in his gear the height and reach advantage. If he uses it optimally, there is no doubt that Njokuani emerges victorious out of
the octagon.
Both Rafael and Anthony are coming from a win and are in dire need to attract Joe Silva, UFC bout-maker’s due and precious attention and a second consecutive win will definitely do the work therefore a toe-to-toe battle is duly expected.
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