Fight Night Lock Alert - Tyson Griffin vs. Rafael dos Anjos
by Nick Meyer
Tyson Griffin put on a good show at UFC 90 against Sean Sherk, but it wasn’t quite enough as Sherk scored a decision victory. The crowd in Chicago roundly booed Sherk after the win, but it wasn’t quite clear whether they were disputing the decision or Sherk’s past steroid troubles.
Regardless of the answer to that question, Griffin went toe-to-toe with the former lightweight champ for three rounds and looked good doing it. Griffin is one of the more athletic and technically sound boxers in the division and he should continue to be a borderline contender for the foreseeable future. On top of his striking, which has begun to improve rapidly, he has a strong wrestling background making him part of a new era of truly well-rounded mixed martial artists in the UFC.
His opponent, Rafael dos Anjos, is 0-1 in his UFC career with a bad loss to unrefined brawler Jeremy Stephens. That could spell big trouble for dos Anjos against Griffin, who is a well-rounded rounded and savvy opponent with great natural talent to boot.
Griffin is a more-than-solid -500 to +350 favorite in this one and there’s not much reason to question that line, other than the fact that another big-time underdog with “Dos” in his name, Junior dos Santos, pulled a recent upset on the same night Griffin fought at UFC 90.
Dos Anjos is a quality submission fighter so the possibility exists that he might catch Griffin in a mistake and pull an arm or something similar, but Griffin is such a good wrestler that it probably won’t be an issue in this fight.
For those reasons, stick with Griffin as your bet in this one unless something crazy happens like an injury pre-fight to Griffin that might make you think twice about picking him.
Griffin should also have the strength advantage in this fight and he has never been submitted, with both of his career losses coming via decision, so the odds are that he will walk out of UFC Fight Night 18 victorious and on his way to bigger and better things yet again in the UFC’s lightweight division in the near future.
