Dos Anjos vs Fiziev fight preview & best bets – UFC on ESPN 39

Rafael dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev will clash in the main event of UFC on ESPN 39 this Saturday night in Las Vegas. The two top-10 lightweights both enter this Saturday’s event looking to extend their current winning streaks.

Rafael Fiziev record, stats & form

Rafael Fiziev (11-1-0) suffered a knockout loss to Magomed Mustafaev in his UFC debut in April of 2019. He’s been red-hot since then with five straight victories, most recently ending Brad Riddell’s seven-fight winning streak with a thrilling spinning wheel kick knockout. Fiziev has climbed up to No.10 in the lightweight rankings and has a golden opportunity to make another big jump with a win over the No.7-ranked fighter in the division.

Rafael dos Anjos record, stats & form

With decision wins over Paul Felder and Renato Moicano in his last two fights, Rafael dos Anjos (31-13-0) has won back-to-back fights for the first time since 2017. dos Anjos was 1-4-0 over his previous five fights prior to the two wins. While it’s easy enough to chalk up dos Anjos’s losing streak to a decline in his advanced age, it’s worth noting that all four of those losses came against high-quality opponents in Colby Covington, Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards and Michael Chiesa.

Dos Anjos vs Fiziev betting predictions

This figures to be a favorable matchup for Rafael Fiziev. Seven of Fiziev’s 11 career wins have come by way of knockout including two of his last three wins over Riddell and Renato Moicano. Moicano has only five knockouts in 44 career bouts, so he doesn’t have a power threat that will give Fiziev anything to worry about. When this fight is off of the mat, it will be all systems go for a very dangerous and aggressive striker in Fiziev.

There is a path to an upset victory for Rafael dos Anjos, and that would be to take this fight to the mat early and often. With 10 career submissions and a solid history of success in grappling, dos Anjos could grind out a win if he is able to take Fiziev out of his comfort zone. But that’ll be a tough thing to do for five rounds, and we think that with five rounds to work with, Fiziev will have plenty of time to find a groove on offense and to score another knockout win.

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