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With the official announcement expected later today, Rafael Cordeiro has already spoken out publicly about how his student Rafael Dos Anjos will beat Conor McGregor at UFC 197 on March 5th.

Speaking to Sherdog.com, Cordeiro confirmed that the contracts had been signed by the lightweight champion Dos Anjos and that he was looking forward to facing McGregor at 155lbs.

He revealed: "From our part, it’s already signed. It’s important to make it clear that this was a request from McGregor. Rafael is really happy to ‘welcome’ him in a brutal way to the lightweight division."

(Image: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

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Dos Anjos is coming off the back of an impressive 66-second win over Donald Cerrone last month and Cordeiro believes that his student has all the tools to repeat this performance over McGregor without changing much to his approach: "It’s a fighter that we truly believe we can beat," he said.

"He’s coming from a lower division, and he can be sure that he’ll face a strong champion who will not change his style."

And such is Cordeiro's confidence in Dos Anjos, he is predicting he will win in a violent manner: "We have five rounds to beat him and Rafael is coming in hungry to beat him, not only physically but spiritually, and to break his soul inside the Octagon.

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"I bet Rafael will finish him in a brutal way, the same way he has finished his last fights."

The UFC's worst kept secret may already be out the bag, but McGregor vs Dos Anjos is expected to be officially announced by the UFC today on Fox Sports during their American Football coverage.

Holly Holm vs Miesha Tate is expected to be announced as the co-main event.