What’s a better way to celebrate your 40th birthday than getting in a battle against one of the best of the division? That’s how the former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos planned to celebrate his big day. However, it appears that things might have changed for the worse for the former champ as the fight came to an abrupt end within the first round.

After his impressive battle against Mateusz Gamrot in the lightweight division, ‘RDA’ made it certain that he wouldn’t be competing in the 155 lbs division as he wanted to focus on competing at welterweight. Dos Anjos tried to test his mettle against Geoff Neal at the UFC 308 PPV but a sudden knee injury stopped his efforts in a disappointing outing and that too on his birthday.

What was the conclusion of the match? Well, Geoff Neal def. Rafael dos Anjos via TKO (knee injury) – Round 1, 1:40. Neal had been ͏dominating the f͏ight wi͏th ͏his͏ precise striking, eve͏n͏ knocking do͏wn d͏os͏ Anjos͏ e͏arly on bef͏ore all͏ow͏ing him t͏o ret͏urn to ͏his feet. As the pressure mou͏nted, Neal landed another powerful combination that ͏sent the Brazilian sp͏rawling to the canv͏as, gripping his leg͏ in vi͏sibl͏e͏ distress͏. ͏Recognizi͏ng͏ th͏at ͏’RDA’ was un͏a͏bl͏e to proceed, referee͏ Mark Smit͏h prom͏ptly called an en͏d to ͏the co͏n͏test.

As of now, we have no information about the kind of injury the former champion has sustained. However, one thing’s for certain and that’s the fact that it might derail his ambitions to make an effective comeback anytime soon.

Rafael Dos Anjos was highly optimistic about his UFC 308 battle

After Belal Muhammad clinched the welterweight title against Leon Edwards, there was a wave of enthusiasm among welterweight fighters eager to challenge him for the title. One of them was Rafael dos Anjos, who emphasized that he was immensely interested in the opportunity. While having a conversation with the media, the former lightweight champion emphasized that he would be taking the welterweight division more seriously now rather than fighting at the lightweight division.

“There’s a lot of guys, young and coming up in the division, it is full of killers. For me to make 155 is just too hard. I want to be able to finish my contract with the UFC and, to do so, it has to be at 170 pounds. There are a lot of names, legends that interest me at welterweight,”  said Dos Anjos.

Well, UFC 308 was supposed to be his comeback to the winning column. However, it appears that the Brazilian would have to wait more for that. Regardless, what’s your take on the match? State your thoughts in the comments below.