Rafael Dos Anjos on Conor McGregor: “I think he’s going to be scared once I hit him”

UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos spoke to MMAFighting about his upcoming title defence against Conor McGregor, calls Cage Warriors an “amateur show” and insists mind games won’t play a factor come March 5th.

“UFC lightweight division isn’t the belt he got in Ireland when he fought a guy with a record of 2-7,” said Dos Anjos “It’s a different world. He fought guys that don’t even have Sherdog pages. He holds belts off his amateur show in Ireland. It’s a different story to hold two UFC belts.

“Lightweight division is a different story. We’ll see. Everybody talks. Anthony Pettis talked before the fight. Donald Cerrone talked before the fight. See what happened? I’ll let him talk and we’ll see what happens. I hope he’s training hard. I think he’s going to be scared once I hit him.”

“He doesn’t have anything to lose,” said Dos Anjos. “He’s a smart guy. He knows that if he loses to [featherweight contenders] Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar, he doesn’t have anything. But at lightweight, if he wins, he’s the man. If he loses, he still has his belt.

“I don’t feel any pressure. I have to take care of my family, my team and my legacy. It’s one more fight. There isn’t anything special in this fight. I’m just happy to put my hands on this guy and make him humble. I think the toughest part of this camp will be not putting my hands on him before the fight happens.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Dos Anjos said in response to McGregor’s traitor comments.

“We have a lot of Brazilians in the United States. It doesn’t mean we’re traitors to our country. I’ve got kids and I had to move for different things like better wrestling training partners here. I think that was a frustrated way to try to win the Brazilian fans. This guy is out of his mind. He’s going to try to do his best to try to mess with my head. I don’t hate him, but the Brazilians do. Brazil is on my side.”