Dos Anjos on Training with Edgar: ‘He Fights on Another Level’

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With his stunning, 59-second knockout of George Sotiropoulos in July, Rafael dos Anjos once again turned heads in the MMA world. Even UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar was impressed with the BJJ specialist’s improved standup skills, calling upon dos Anjos to help him train for his UFC 136 title defense against Gray Maynard.

Dos Anjos traveled to New York City to join Edgar’s sparring sessions at Renzo Gracie’s academy alongside countryman Gregor Gracie, welterweight contender Charlie Brenneman and “The Ultimate Fighter 10” winner Kris McCray.

“Frankie is such a tough guy. It’s really hard to follow his speed,” dos Anjos recently told Sherdog.com. “He fights on another level and gets in on your legs so easily. He has great takedowns and knows how to move on the floor. It’s not surprising that he’s the champion.”

Along with his skills, Edgar’s weight-cutting philosophy also impressed dos Anjos.

“The most impressive thing is that he weighs 158 pounds during off-season and fights in a division where most of the guys weigh 176 or more,” he attested. “He has an incredible and endless gas tank. It’s been such a great experience here.”

While in New York, dos Anjos’ main responsibility is to assist Edgar in sparring sessions. However, the Brazilian is also taking the opportunity to sharpen his wrestling skills in preparation for his November showdown with Gleison Tibau at UFC 139. The fact that Tibau is known for his powerful takedowns motivated dos Anjos to train not only with Edgar, but also with middleweight Mark Munoz in Los Angeles.

“We always have to be developing,” dos Anjos said. “I’m still 26 years old. I have a lot of time to fix mistakes in my game and get more experienced in training different styles. These travels are good for that and I’m enjoying training wrestling with some tough young men in colleges and at Munoz’s. I’m working on my wrestling the same way I’ve been developing my striking in the past years. I believe my opponent can’t ever know what I’ll do in the Octagon.”

In the meantime, the strategy for his fight against Tibau remains unprepared. What dos Anjos knows is that he needs a left-handed striker and, believe it or not, more intensive jiu-jitsu training.

“I’m training BJJ once a week with Renzo and Ricardo Almeida in New York, but my focus is to wrestle and spar with Edgar,” said the black belt. “In Rio, I’ll prepare a strategy with Roberto ‘Gordo’ Correa, and I believe I need to add more jiu-jitsu to my training. I’ve lost some moves and they’ll be fixed with my coach.”