When he's allowed to talk, unlike at the press conference held last month for what was then called UFC 197 (it has since changed to UFC 196), Rafael dos Anjos is certainly capable of promoting a fight.
Speaking on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the Brazilian claimed that, regularly, Irish people walk up to him a plead that he shut the mouth of Conor McGregor.
Even Irish fans, they come to me, they say 'Please, shut that guy's mouth. This guy has been talking so much.' Maybe 90% of the fans that I meet say the same thing.
Dos Anjos lives in California where he trains with Kings MMA. The 31-year-old's neighbour, an Irishman, is one of those who has requested he defeat McGregor due to the 'embarrassment' which he has caused the country.
The Irish say that this guy, he is embarrassing his own people. He is making everybody ashamed of him. The guy who lives next door to me is Irish. His wife is Irish too. They have two kids, they live next door to me. Everytime, we're friends, he says 'Please beat this guy. He's embarrassing us. He's embarrassing the Irish people.
Beating McGregor is one thing, shutting his mouth could be another entirely, more difficult prospect.
Regarding how he can defeat the Dubliner, dos Anjos reasoned he can do it in multiple ways.
Jiu jitsu - done. Karate - done. K1 rules - done.
He also informed that in his career, he has already fought opponents who have levels of ability far superior to McGregor.
He's a good fighter. I'm not saying he's not a good fighter but I've just faced better guys who are at a different level. He has a good counter. He has a good straight left. So I need to watch it but not anything that I didn't see before.
I fought Nate Diaz. Nate Diaz is a better boxer than him; longer, very difficult to fight against. Nate Diaz is a very tough opponent. Cerrone is a very good muay thai guy, very long. I fought better guys before.
