Rafael Dos Anjos Breaks Down Move To Welterweight
Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos announced yesterday (Jan. 6, 2017) that he would be making the move up to welterweight in the foreseeable future, and it appears as if the Brazilian made this decision based off of the fact that he feels he’s been ‘sacrificing’ too much by cutting down to 155-pounds:
“What made me move up to welterweight was all the effort I was doing, to look at my health and have a good life,” dos Anjos told MMA Fighting. “I wanted to stop sacrificing so much. For how much I was making, it’s not worth doing all this effort and destroy my body.
“Most of the fighters have 10 or 15 fights in this division. I have 27 fights in this division. When I was 16 years old, I weighed 176 pounds. It’s just too much for me. I already got the belt. And for (the money) I’m making now, it’s not worth it. One day, if there’s a superfight or something that gives me good money, I can make this sacrifice and go back to 155 again, but not now.”
Dos Anjos admits that his body has changed over the years and that he’s simply gotten too big to cut down to lightweight as often as he has. In fact, he even said that he ‘passed out’ multiple times during his weight cut for his title fight with Eddie Alvarez last July:
“My body changed between 2014 and 2015,” he said. “I fought five times in 11 months, during that run for the title. I don’t see anyone doing this. I see Cerrone doing this, but I don’t see other doing this. I walk around with 187, 198 pounds, easy, and to cut this weight five times in 11 months was too much.
“I eat well, but after that I felt that my body got bigger. I was holding the weight more. It was tough to make weight against Cerrone, and I passed out three times making weight for the Eddie Alvarez fight. One day you get to the limit.”
RDA is indeed a bit smaller than some of the top welterweights in terms of height and reach, but he doesn’t feel as if the weight difference will have that large of an affect on his performance. He also believes that cutting less weight will benefit him:
“I don’t think 15 pounds will make such a big difference,” dos Anjos said. “The other guys are bigger and stronger, for sure, but I’m used to training with guys that big. I also think that they are big, but they cut weight. They will go through something I won’t. I’ll have to cut weight for 170, but I’ll cut less. I fought well at 155, but I don’t think I ever came close to my best at 155. I think I’ll get to my best at 170 pounds.”
As far as which fighter could potentially welcome him to the 170-pound class, dos Anjos said that he won’t call anyone out, but he did admit that he’s eyeing a big name:
“There are several fighters I could fight right now,” he added. “I never called anyone out and won’t do it now, but I’m here to fight the best. A top 5, a top 10, I’ll fight anyone.”
What do you make of dos Anjos’ move up?
