RDA explains move from lightweight

Rafael dos Anjos bounced back from a 2014 decision loss to Khabib Numagomedov by knocking out Jason High in the second. Then he beat Benson Henderson, in the Fight of the Night. Then he beat Nate Diaz. Then he beat Anthony Pettis, taking his lightweight title. And he defended the belt by beating Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, again.

It appeared that the reign of a great champion could be underway.

Next though Eddie Alvarez knocked him out in the first. And then Tony Ferguson beat him in the fight of the night. Now he is moving up.

“What made me move up to welterweight was all the effort I was doing, to look at my health and have a good life, said dos Anjos to Guilherme Cruz for 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.”

“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.”

“My body changed between 2014 and 2015. I fought five times in 11 months, during that run for the title. … 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 eleven months was too much.

“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.”

“I don’t think 15 pounds will make such a big difference. 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.

RDA hopes to fight again in late April or early May. He doesn’t do callouts, but is looking for anyone in the top 5, or top 10. Given the dangers of the culture of extreme weight-cutting in mixed martial arts, it would be good for the sport if the dos Anjos’s move to 170 was a success.