Rafael dos Anjos bludgeoned his opponent Renato Moicano so bad he was almost unrecognizable
- Rafael dos Anjos gave Renato Moicano a horrible beating Saturday at UFC 272 in Las Vegas.
- The Brazilian striker beat Moicano so beat he looked disfigured because of all the facial damage.
LAS VEGAS — Rafael dos Anjos bludgeoned his opponent Renato Moicano so bad he was almost unrecognizable after five rounds of MMA fighting Saturday at the UFC 272 event that took place inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
At moments, it was hard to watch.
Combat sports like boxing and MMA seem to sometimes have these moments where people watch — fans in the venue, media in attendance, and those at home — through their fingers.
Fights can go on for far too long.
And the UFC 272 co-main event fight between dos Anjos and Moicano, fought at a 160-pound catchweight, appeared to be one of those.
Dos Anjos landed five of his 15 takedown attempts, landed 179 of his 318 strikes for a 57% accuracy rate, and also scored a knockdown in the third.
Dos Anjos dominated Moicano for much of the match thanks to his double-leg takedown in the first, his strike variety that featured elbows, straight lefts, and jabs, and by the third, had taken so much out of his opponent that Moicano seemed like a punch bag.
The Brazilian fighter told reporters at a post-match conference Insider attended that he implored the doctor to stop the fight — but he didn't.
Moicano, who the UFC boss Dana White calls a "badass," fought on despite wearing the wounds of war … grotesque swelling, throbbing bruising, and a mask of blood from nasty cuts.
The third round was horrible. A clear 10-8 round on the three Octagonside judge's cards. Moicano, too tough for his own good, too brave, ate shot after shot. It was a brutal beatdown.
But it wasn't over.
Moicano passed the vision test when a medical professional inspected him prior to the start of the fourth, and he began the round like the referee might stop it at any moment.
He hit dos Anjos with punches, but again dos Anjos was able to have his way. Dos Anjos busted Moicano's face even further with a pinpoint elbow strike. There was blood everywhere.
It could have ended there and then, and many people would have been relieved.
But, still, it wasn't over.
The doctor was called in once again before the start of the fifth and it must have been jarring to look at the battered face before him. Battered, but not beaten — not yet.
The referee Marc Goddard gave Moicano 30 seconds to show him something.
Perhaps it was because dos Anjos took the round off, or felt bad about slaughtering the man in front of him, but Moicano had his best round of the night — and survived to the end.
But at what cost?
Photos of Moicano's face show how bad an evening it was for him:
Here's a close-up:
"It could have been stopped a couple of times," Dana White said at a post-fight press conference Insider attended, adding Moicano is too tough for his own good. "Moicano's the real deal."
With victory, dos Anjos advanced his accomplished pro MMA record to 31 wins (five knockouts, 10 submissions, and 16 decisions) against 13 defeats.
He now has two wins in a row, and is pushing the UFC to return for a second fight of the year year this summer.