UFC Vegas 78: UFC Apex; Las Vegas, Nevada
After a grueling five-round battle between Vicente Luque and Rafael dos Anjos they went to the scorecards. And all three were in favor of the “Silent Assassin”, 49-46, 48-47 2x. But in this fight does the heavy grappling mean anything. The duo only had each other marginally in any trouble.
Despite dos Anjos being a legend in the sport at this point he’s a tweener. Hard to suck down to lightweight where he once held gold, and undersized at welterweight. So in essence the fight for Luque has very little upside being dos Anjos isn’t a ranked fighter in the division. But it could have been a costly loss though for him.
But the takedown defense he displayed and the eight times he brought the fight to the ground show the work he’s putting in at KILL CLIFF FC with Henri Hooft. He said:
“I’m really emotional. I feared never doing this again”.
In reference to a long layoff to heal from injuries. The draining clinch work took a lot out of both fighters during the tactical chess match. As both fighters also hunted for multiple submissions. Both the losses to Geoff Neal and Stephen Thompson are ones he had said he’d like to get back.
Does Heavy Grappling Mean A Top-Five Opponent
Probably not in the world of Dana White for Luque. Even though he also showed a solid chin when dos Anjos tested it. His striking is still solid, and if he’s now able to fight behind the black line, he may in the near future be where he wants to be.
Which would not only possibly set up another fight of two-Brazilians, but of teammates. Gilbert Burns sits at number-five. It would be hard to imagine Luque’s chin passing a test from “Durinho”. Although Luque is more of a sniper type striker. And has a better level of cardio. And as we saw tonight… his grappling is much improved.
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