Rafael dos Anjos says Brazilian fans are rooting for him to ‘kill’ Colby Covington at UFC 225.
Colby Covington might have called the entire country of Brazil a ‘dump’ and its countrymen ‘filthy animals’, but Rafael dos Anjos isn’t going to let his emotions get the better of him at UFC 225, where he will meet ‘Chaos’ in the co-main event for the interim welterweight title.
‘RDA’ hasn’t taken the bait, but his fellow Brazilians are out for blood this Saturday. Speaking at a recent media scrum in Los Angeles, dos Anjos told MMA Junkie that Brazil is rooting for him to not just just beat Covington but to give the American the biggest beating of his life.
“A lot of Brazilians, everything that I post (on social media), when I meet Brazilians, they all say the same thing: ‘You’ve got to kill this guy. You’ve got to kill this guy,’” dos Anjos said. “But, you know, I’ve been in this position before. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in the cage in my career. It’s my 38th fight, and that’s a lot of fights. I know what I have to do to win, and I don’t take this as pressure. I have to win for me. I need that. Nobody wants it more than me. That’s why I will win.”
Covington might have made a lot of enemies in Brazil, but former lightweight champion dos Anjos, who is now the top-ranked welterweight contender in the world, believes his opponent’s controversial antics are all fake and used for promotion.
With that said, dos Anjos believes Covington is going about things ‘the wrong way’ and thinks the 30-year-old is setting himself up for a massive fall at UFC 225.
“But he’s just doing all this to promote himself. I think it’s in the wrong way, but everything will be solved Saturday,” he said.
Although dos Anjos admits Covington’s ongoing trash talk has given him a ‘little extra motivation’, the Rio de Janiero-based fighter says it will be strictly business when the cage door closes on June 9.
“I’m a cold-blooded fighter,” dos Anjos said. “Once I step inside the octagon, there is no trash-talking. Just two guys fighting, clean with rules. Of course, it gives me a little extra motivation, but it’s not something I’m going to care about inside the cage. I have a lot of motivation with my kids, with my family. I have to provide for them. I’m a very competitive guy, too. I want to win. It’ll be a good fight.”
UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero 2 takes place this Saturday, June 9 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.