The Evolve Fight Team wins at UFC 132!
UFC Lightweight contender Rafael Dos Anjos took a step closer to becoming Evolve MMA’s first ever UFC champion with a spectacular round one stoppage of George Sotiropoulos at UFC 132. The Brazilian, who spent time in Singapore preparing for this fight, was a major underdog after almost a year out with a badly broken jaw.
Sotiropoulos is Australia’s number one fighter and had a near perfect UFC record of 7-1 going into this fight. However Dos Anjos showed the Muay Thai skills which he has been working on with the Evolve instructors in Singapore, scoring a sensational knock out less than a minute into the opening round.
After the fight, an emotional Dos Anjos, with tears in his eyes, said, "Thank you to God for my victory. I have gone through some very difficult times in the last year. Without the support of my family and Evolve, I would not have made it through. I want to thank the greatest team in the world, Evolve MMA, for making me the fighter that I am today. I will challenge for the title one day in the future. EVOLVE!"
He also added, "I spent 3 months in Singapore training at Evolve MMA and worked a lot on my Muay Thai and my Boxing and got really confident in my stand up skills and it paid off in this fight. I've been in Singapore 3 times already, but this time I spent 3 months so I really get a lot of training in. I train at Evolve in Rio de Janeiro - t's all one team. Evolve Singapore are great guys and it really pays off to go over there and work on my stand up."
Dos Anjos was close to a shot at the UFC lightweight title before suffering an injury in his fight with Clay Guida and has put himself right back in contention with this performance. The Evolve Fight Team already contains DREAM Lightweight World Champion Shinya Aoki as well as Muay Thai world champions Namsaknoi Yudthagarngamtorn and Anuwat Kaewsamrit, boxing world champion Yodsanan Sityodtong and BJJ world champions Leandro Issa and Zorobabel Moreira Jnr, and many other world champions.
The only thing Evolve MMA is missing is a UFC champion and Dos Anjos looks like he is on course to be the first. It is likely that the UFC will want him to beat a couple more top level contenders but Dos Anjos is surely only a couple wins away from becoming the first ever Evolve MMA fighter to challenge for a UFC title.
Here is another post-fight interview by Rafael dos Anjos at UFC 132 with Ariel Helwani.
Evolve Mixed Martial Arts® is Asia's premier brand of MMA academies. With World Champions in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts, Boxing, and No Gi Grappling, Evolve MMA is the top martial arts training organization in Asia. It ranks among the best martial arts academies in the world.
