Rafael dos Anjos liked the direction his fight against Rafael Fiziev was headed going into the final round, but that changed in a matter of seconds.
Fiziev put an emphatic stamp on the bout by dropping dos Anjos with a left hook and finishing the contest with a standing-to-ground punch 18 seconds into Round 5 in the UFC on ESPN 39 headliner at the UFC Apex on Saturday night. It was the sixth straight win for the Tiger Muay Thai product, and it was a damaging blow to dos Anjos’ hopes of making another title run at 155 pounds.