Former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos is back up at welterweight this weekend when he faces Geoff Neal at UFC 308. After initially making the move up to 170-pounds back in 2017, “RDA” has returned to 155 on several occasions but that appears to have come to an end.
At UFC 299 earlier this year, Dos Anjos faced Mateusz Gamrot in a fight that could have propelled him up the lightweight rankings with a win. Considering the stakes that were hanging in the balance, the Brazilian said in a recent interview with Home of Fight that it made sense to take.
After coming up short against Gamrot, Dos Anjos intends on spending the rest of his days in the UFC as a certified welterweight. When he first went up a weight class, it was due to the brutal weight cuts that he was having to go through in order to hit 155-pounds.
During the interview, the former champ revealed that he was having to cut nearly 30 pounds earlier this year in Miami in order to fight in his former division once again.
Securing a win over the #10-ranked Neal in Abu Dhabi this weekend will be the justification that Dos Anjos needs in order to remain at welterweight.
“Just try to make weight is hell man. I’m 195 right now three weeks away from the fight and I’m in good shape, you know. I’m not in a bad shape and I’m not fat, I’m in a good shape and it’s just too hard man. My last lightweight camp, the whole camp like even on the fight week, I was 185, I couldn’t get below that. The lightest that I got during the fight camp was 184 and man, I’m 39-years old, I have the title before and that’s not what I want for my life.”
