Fairfax, Va. -- Rafael dos Anjos was dominant beating Kyle Bradley on Monday at UFC Fight Night 20 in a key matchup of welterweights looking to remain with the promotion.
Dos Anjos (13-4) scored a unanimous-decision victory, 30-27 three times, for his second straight win after losing two in a row. Bradley (14-7) dropped to 1-3 in the UFC and failed in the follow up to his win over Phillippe Nover at UFC 98.
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Dos Anjos captured the first round with aggressive stand up. He blasted Bradley with a straight left late in the round to finish off a combination and stagger his opponent, who appeared to be greatly helped when the bell soon rang.
Dos Anjos pushed the pace in the second round and worked hard for a kimura and then an arm bar, but Bradley defended the first on his back and rolled out of the second. Standing, Bradley enjoyed his best fist-exchange of the match, but dos Anjos managed to take him down.
With dos Anjos in Bradley's guard, the pair threw a series of seven straight hammer fists at one another, with Bradley willingly taking the exchange despite his inferior position. But dos Anjos clearly had the first two rounds won.
Bradley could not prevent dos Anjos from taking him down with a half-slam in the early going of Round Three. Bradley had his back nearly against the fence with dos Anjos on him first in side control, then posturing into guard and looking for ground and pound.
Bradley got back to his feet and tried kicking the downed dos Anjos' legs, then backed away to get the fight to the feet again. Without winning the exchanges, Bradley was dumped again hard by dos Anjos, who tried to pound him out from the guard but settled for a decision.
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