Dos Anjos and McGregor’s War of Words Gets Under Way

The long awaited official announcement for UFC 197 on Tuesday brought an end to two days of rampant speculation. It was heavily rumored that the declaration of the super fight between Rafael Dos Anjos and Conor McGregor would come on Sunday's NFL broadcast, and when it never did, there were whispers that both parties were refusing to sign on the dotted line.

Unsurprisingly, when word eventually got out, it was McGregor's personal announcement on Instagram that garnered the most attention from the media. Ever since, there have been debates as to whether he writes his own material based on him being referred to in the third person in the post, and even suggestions that he is about to make a run at building his own promotional empire due to the wording in the copy.

"This McGregor Inc. executive business decision is brought to you by the King himself in association with EA Sports. 'McGregor is the Game.' Mr. McGregor would like to thank the fans and the media for their patience in this decision. Mr. McGregor was still busy counting the take from his last fight," it read.

Another vital piece of intelligence we collected from the Instagram post was what narrative 'The Notorious' is going to utilize in his goading of the Brazilian lightweight champion ahead of their March 5 meeting.

The post boasted an image of the Kings MMA frontrunner superimposed onto a body that sported a stars and stripes dickie-bow and top hat, and it attempted to depict the champion as a "traitor" to the "people of Brazil". Similar avenues at agitating Brazilian opponents have previously been used by Chael Sonnen in his verbal dressing down of both Anderson and Wanderlei Silva.

"He (McGregor) has chosen to dedicate this demolition job to the loyal people of Brazil and all the fans around the globe who stay true to their roots and loyal to their land. Mr. McGregor has said that Rafael is a traitor to his people and vows to "behead the 'American Gringo' Rafael Dos Anjos, in the name of La Brasilia!" Viva la Brasil!" it said.

Dos Anjos used another tactic that we have seen McGregor counterparts produce in the lead up to their bouts with the Irishman in his rebuttal via MMAFighting.com yesterday. The champion questioned the SBG fighter's previous losses and mocked the featherweight kingpin's wins in his early years against fighters that "don't even have Sherdog pages."

"UFC lightweight division isn't the belt he got in Ireland when he fought a guy with a record of 2-7," insisted Dos Anjos. "It's a different world. He fought guys that don't even have Sherdog pages. He holds belts off his amateur shows in Ireland. It's a different story to hold two UFC belts.

"(The) lightweight division is a different story. We'll see. Everybody talks. Anthony Pettis talked before the fight. Donald Cerrone talked before the fight. See what happened? I'll let him talk and we'll see what happens. I hope he's training hard. I think he's going to be scared once I hit him."

In all fairness to Dos Anjos, he had a few tricks up his sleeve to when it came to firing back at his future counterpart in his statement. He poked fun at McGregor for not defending his featherweight strap because Dos Anjos believes the Dubliner "doesn't have anything to lose" by coming up to 155 lbs.

"He doesn't have anything to lose. He's a smart guy. He knows that if he loses to Jose Aldo or Frankie Edgar, he doesn't have anything. But at lightweight, if he wins, he's the man. If he loses, he still has his belt.

"I don't feel any pressure. I have to take care of my family, my team and my legacy. It's one more fight. There isn't anything special in this fight. I'm just happy to put my hands on this guy and make him humble. I think the toughest part of this camp will be not putting my hands on him before the fight happens."

As for the "traitor" barbs that McGregor threw in his direction, Dos Anjos explained why he moved to the States and declared that the Irishman was "insane".

"It doesn't make any sense," Dos Anjos said in reaction to McGregor's post. "We have a lot of Brazilians in the United States. It doesn't mean we're traitors to our country.

"I've got kids and I had to move for different things like better wrestling training partners here. I think that was a frustrated way to try to win the Brazilian fans. This guy is out of his mind. He's going to try to do his best to try to mess with my head. I don't hate him, but the Brazilians do. Brazil is on my side."

Their first exchange after being officially announced as a championship pairing was certainly an entertaining one, and we should probably get used to a similar back and forth over the next month as the pairing will no doubt be wheeled out for an abundance of promotional spots in the lead up to their Vegas showdown.

We've seen no signs of cracking in Dos Anjos as of yet, but as we have witnessed before, it's very hard to gauge how much of an effect 'The Notorious' has on his opponents until they finally meet face to face.