UFC 185: Pettis vs. dos Anjos was live from the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas on March 14, 2015.
It was a rare event, as it saw no injuries to anyone on the main card. The event was rounded out with two title fights as UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza took on Joanna Jędrzejczyk in the co-main event and Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis put his UFC Lightweight Championship on the line against Rafael dos Anjos in the main event.
Check out our biggest winners and losers from UFC 185 below.
Winners:
Rafael dos Anjos
In a spectacular performance, Rafael dos Anjos was able to beat Anthony Pettis from start to finish to become the new UFC Lightweight Champion at UFC 185. Coming into the fight all the talk was about Pettis and how he is the next big star in the UFC, but dos Anjos did not let that get to him. The Brazilian continued his streak of great performances with the absolute best performance of his career on his way to reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
Joanna Jędrzejczyk
The entire week leading up to the fight it was clear that if anyone had an opportunity of completely stealing the show it would be Joanna Jędrzejczyk. The Poland native did just that with an absolutely perfect performance on her way to becoming the new UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion with a TKO victory at 4:17 of Round 2. The 27-year-old was able to stop nearly every single takedown that was attempted and picked Carla Esparza apart on the feet. Jędrzejczyk capped off a perfect week with becoming the new champion and very well may become an international star for the UFC.
Joseph Duffy
Coming into UFC 185, Joseph Duffy was most known for being the guy who last beat ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor, but was looking to change that in his UFC debut against Jake Lindsey. The Irishman could not ask for a better debut as he absolutely dominated the fight for the short time that it lasted. Duffy landed a devastating head kick and followed it up with punches to the body on his way to a TKO victory at 1:47 of Round 1. The continuous growth of Irish MMA fighters in the UFC just got much better with the addition of Duffy. Unfortunately, for the time being he will still likely be known as “the guy who last beat Conor McGregor”, but he is surely on his way of making a name for himself and putting that out of people’s minds when his name comes up.
Losers:
Pettis Brothers
It was a rough night for the Pettis brothers. For the second time in a row, both Anthony Pettis and Sergio Pettis shared a fight card, but unlike at UFC 181, it was not a successful one. Sergio Pettis took the octagon first and was looking flawless until he got caught by a punch from Ryan Benoit that dropped him and ultimately resulted in a TKO loss at 1:34 of Round 2. Anthony Pettis took the octagon in the main event and put on a very disappointing performance to say the least. ‘Showtime’ was absolutely dominated by Rafael dos Anjos and lost his UFC Lightweight Championship. Both of the Pettis brothers are very good fighters and will surely be back better than ever, but it was certainly a rough night for the Roufusport fighters.
Carla Esparza
At UFC 185, Carla Esparza was set to make the first defense of her UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship against Joanna Jędrzejczyk. Esparza had absolutely nothing for the challenger. ‘Cookie Monster’ was unsuccessful on almost all of her takedowns and took an absolute beating on the feet. The Team Oyama strawweight was proven to be very one dimensional and looked lost on the feet when she was unable to get the takedown. It was Esparza’s first loss in almost four years and a disappointing performance where she was unable to successfully defend her title.
Chris Cariaso
After a lopsided loss to UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson in his last fight, Chris Cariaso was set to take on one of the biggest prospects in the division in Henry Cejudo at UFC 185. Cariaso was once again dominated on his way to a unanimous decision loss against the Olympic gold medalist. Although it has been against very tough competition, ‘Kamikaze’ has not looked good in his last two fights. Cariaso will still likely get a top 15 guy in his next fight, but he will certainly be in a must win situation.
