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Today, Australia’s George Sotiropoulos will look to get back into the winner’s circle when he meets tough Brazilian Rafael dos Anjos on the preliminary portion of UFC 132.
His placement on the card is a notable change of scenery for Sotiropoulos, who has spent his last four fights as a main card attraction on events like the Brock Lesnar-fueled UFC 116. An unexpected loss to a mid-tier fighter will do that to you though.
Sotiropoulos’ unanimous decision defeat to Dennis Siver at UFC 127 at Sydney’s Acer Arena back in February not only snapped his seven-fight winning streak, but also sent him tumbling down the lightweight standings.
If there is one division in the UFC that you don’t want to take a tumble down, it is the lightweight division.
Not only is there congestion at the top of the weightclass with fighters like Jim Miller, Clay Guida and Melvin Guillard all staking claim to the next title shot, but the rest of the division is so jam packed since the WEC merger that job security is at an all-time low.
With the newer bantamweight and featherweight divisions or the contender-shallow heavyweight division, losses aren’t as damaging to the security of a fighter’s contract, but if a fighter with a comparative stature in the lightweight division suffers back-to-back defeats, you can almost hear the UFC management’s shredder turning on.
Being Australia’s most notable mixed martial artist gives Sotiropoulos more leniency in this department than other fighters, but the Geelong native still finds himself in a prickly situation come Sunday.
His opponent, dos Anjos, was not his original one with the Brazilian stepping in to replace an injured Evan Dunham.
The change in opponent did not so much bring a drop off in skill as it did in name value.
While no superstar, Dunham had headlined a live Spike TV event, as well as scored impressive victories on the main cards of other events. He was also considered a top contender prior to his devastating loss to Guillard in January.
Dos Anjos, on the other hand, is coming off a submission loss – due to injury – to Clay Guida back in August, with his most recognisable moment before that being the face that connected with Jeremy Stephen’s leaping uppercut at UFC 91.
With that being said, Dos Anjos is still a very skilled fighter who possesses some good striking, nasty leg kicks, and a very astute and dangerous jiu-jitsu game. This skill-set could very well become a problem for Sotiropoulos if he is unable to get the better of the striking exchanges. This would force him to rely on his wrestling again, which as shown in the Siver fight, is not quite up to snuff.
All these factors combined show what a dangerous situation Sotiropoulos finds himself in on Sunday. A win on Sunday is what is expected of him, but it allows him to regain his footing in a very slippery division.
A loss would make it back-to-back defeats to two unheralded fighters and send him right back to the bottom of an unforgiving mountain.
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