Rafael Dos Anjos reflects on his loss to Alvarez: “I had a bad day. I just got caught.”

On the most recent episode of The MMA Hour, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos joined Ariel Helwani and discussed his recent title loss to Eddie Alvarez:

On the show, Dos Anjos told Helwani that his first priority after the loss was taking a bit of a break.

“I had a break and I was thinking about my life a little bit, [about] my career. Now I’m back on track, back working hard again, ready to get the belt again.”

Now that that’s done that, he feels like he’s already gotten over the loss.

“I’m over it already,” he told Helwani. “It was a bad moment for me but I’m able to see a lot of things now that I was sort of hiding before… I’m learning a lot of lessons.”

One of these lessons, Dos Anjos said, is that people tend to treat champions differently once they lose the title.

“People treat you one way when you’re the champion, but when you’re not champion, everything changes and people treat you differently.”

“That was good to know,” he continued. “So, we can start making adjustments [to our team] and making some cuts in the near future. When I become champion again, these people will not be on my side.”

Now that he’s had some time to reflect on his loss to Alvarez, Dos Anjos was able to offer up an honest assessment of the fight, and why it didn’t go his way.

“I think I had a bad night of work, I think it’s just that,” he explained. “When you’re a fighter, when you’re not doing good at work, you lose the fight. I think Eddie had a great day and I had a bad day.

Of course, Dos Anjos wasn’t suggesting he couldn’t beat Alvarez in a possible rematch.

“I’m sure I’m still the best fighter in this division and I’ll prove it once again,” the former champ told Helwani. “I’m still hungry, I just got caught.”

In fact, Dos Anjos believes he should have gotten an immediate rematch with Alvarez right off the bat.

“I think I should get my rematch because of everything I’ve done in the division, and because I’ve finished guys who have never been finished before. But it is what it is. If Khabib [Nurmagomedov] is next, it’s fine. I’ll get there.”

Do you think “RDA” will get back on track when he squares off with Tony Ferguson on November 5? Sound off PENN Nation!