A couple of days ago, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight title holder Rafael dos Anjos announced his move to the welterweight division. While dos Anjos had good size for the 155-pound division, making weight was a tough task. To his credit, dos Anjos always tipped the scales within the weight limit.
The Brazilian told MMAFighting.com that his move to 170 pounds will be beneficial to not just his career, but his life:
“What made me move up to welterweight was all the effort I was doing. To look at my health and have a good life, I wanted to stop sacrificing so much. For how much I was making, it’s not worth doing all this effort and destroying my body.”
The run dos Anjos had from June 2014 through the end of 2015 was the best stretch of his career. During that span, he took the lightweight title from Anthony Pettis in a dominating performance. The Brazilian noticed a significant difference during that time.
“My body changed between 2014 and 2015. I fought five times in 11 months during that run for the title. I don’t see anyone doing this. I see [Donald] Cerrone doing this, but I don’t see others 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.”
If dos Anjos is to get to the top of the 170-pound ladder, he’ll have to face some stiff competition. The former lightweight champion is in no rush and isn’t concerned with rankings.
“I’m a former champion, but I’m not thinking about rankings right now, if I’m close to the belt. There are other fighters ahead of me. Demian Maia deserves to be next for the belt. I’ll quietly move up, as always, and when the opportunity comes, I’ll embrace it. I’m here to fight the best.”
