Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) matchmaker Sean Shelby says Rafael dos Anjos could’ve been the one to challenge Tyron Woodley for the welterweight title.
At UFC 214, Woodley successfully defended his gold against Demian Maia. It was a bout panned by fans for its lack of inactivity. Perhaps it would’ve gone different in an alternate universe.
During a recent edition of “Watch List,” Shelby revealed that dos Anjos was a back up for UFC 214 (via Bloody Elbow):
“What’s interesting about this, is that we obviously had a fight with Tyron Woodley and Demian Maia. Dana made it public that Tyron is fighting on this card. Maia wasn’t initially sure if he was going to do it, and the guy waiting there for that fight was RDA. He had already accepted the fight against Tyron, had Maia not been able to do it.”
He went on to say that dos Anjos was ready to take the opportunity before Maia agreed to the title bout.
“So he’s been ready to go. He’s been chomping at the bit, and he wants to fight every week. I said, ‘hey, it didn’t work out, but I’ll try to get you back in something fun as soon as possible.’”
