Just 24 hours after promoting Shooto Brazil 113, Andre
Pederneiras was on his way to Orlando to corner Rafael dos
Anjos and Matheus
Nicolau at UFC on ESPN 42.
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Dos Anjos faces Bryan
Barberena in a welterweight bout at Saturday’s event, while
Nicolau will lock horns with Matt
Schnell at flyweight. Pederneiras is optimistic about the
prospects of both athletes heading into the card, including dos
Anjos’ ability to remain at contender at 155 pounds.
“Sometimes the coach disagrees with the fighter, but it’s up to him
to make the final choice,” Pederneiras told Sherdog.com. “In my
opinion RDA still has all [capabilities needed] to fight for the
lightweight title; everything just depends on the matchup of the
next fights. In my opinion, he can keep fighting in both
divisions.”
The Nova Uniao leader believes Barberena is a good stylistic
matchup for dos Anjos’ return to the welterweight division. Dos
Anjos last appeared at UFC on ESPN 39, where he suffered a knockout
loss to Rafael
Fiziev in the fifth round on July 9.
“Barberena has great momentum coming off three straight wins, but
Rafael is also in a good place after a war against the best striker
in the lightweight division, where he was getting stronger in the
fifth round when Fiziev landed a perfect punch on his chin. I see
RDA as a bad matchup for Barberena,” Pederneiras said. “He is still
competing at a high level. He was champion in the lightweight
division and challenged for the interim belt at welterweight, and I
truly believe he can remain competitive in both [weight classes] if
he wants t
o.”
Pederneiras is betting on another strong performance from Nicolau,
who is No. 6 in the UFC rankings and has won three straight in the
promotion. “There is no easy fight in the Top 10 of flyweight
division,” he said. “Nicolau is a truly a hard worker and he is
evolving. He has won three straight and he has a great tactical
plan to beat Schnell and get closer to the title shot.”