Sean Shelby's Shoes: What's next for Rafael dos Anjos after UFC on ESPN 51 loss?

Rafael dos Anjos once again experienced the struggle and wrath of being an undersized welterweight Saturday when he was controlled and outworked by Vicente Luque in the UFC on ESPN 51 headliner.

Former lightweight champion dos Anjos (33-15 MMA, 21-13 UFC) is at a tricky stage of his career. At 39, he is wise enough to know his body can’t handle the stress of cutting down to 155 pounds anymore. But being at 170 pounds is going to provide the difficult obstacle of facing bigger and stronger men like Luque (22-9-1 MMA, 15-5 UFC), who is not typically known for his takedown ability, but scored a career high eight en route to a unanimous decision win at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

There’s no perfect answer here for “RDA,” honestly. He’s approaching the 15-year anniversary of his UFC debut, and with five fights remaining on his UFC contract, it’s probably hard to turn his nose up at what will likely be the final significant paydays of his combat sports career. The financial upside makes him willing to put himself at a competitive disadvantage for these fights, and that’s just the reality of his current situation.

The UFC could throw him the bone of giving him some more manageable opposition, however, and that’s why when assessing the lay of the land at welterweight, Gunnar Nelson sticks out as a matchup that could make sense.

Yes, Nelson (19-5-1 MMA, 10-5 UFC) is another grappler whose Plan A would certainly be to take dos Anjos down and submit him, but he is not a physically imposing presence in the division compared to others, nor does he have an exceptional takedown game. There’s a good chance dos Anjos could keep that one standing for long enough to have a solid shot at winning.

On the flip side, too, Nelson is coming off back-to-back wins and has probably earned a shot against a reputable opponent like dos Anjos. He’s struggled to get over the hump when sharing the octagon with high-profile names like Gilbert Burns, Leon Edwards and Demian Maia, and at 35, a fight with dos Anjos might be his final chance to prove he can be something more than he’s shown to this point.

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 51.