Rafael dos Anjos News

Russell Ess - April 26, 2017

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos is set to make his UFC welterweight debut on June 17 against #11 UFC ranked welterweight Tarec Saffiedine at UFC Fight Night 111. The fight takes place in at Singapore Indoor Stadium and although dos Anjos hails from Brazil and is currently living in California, Singapore is another home away from home for the former champion.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

In a few short weeks, Rafael Dos Anjos will make his debut in the UFC welterweight division, taking on former Strikeforce champ Tarec Saffiedine at UFC Fight Night 111 in Singapore. The reason for this move is an increasingly gruelling cut to the lightweight division’s 155-pound cap – a cut that sometimes began north of 190 pounds. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Dos Anjos explained that his cut was so severe that it actually caused him to pass out for several minutes in the buildup to his June title loss to Eddie Alvarez.

Tom Taylor - April 24, 2017

Earlier this year, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos announced his plans to abandon the 155-pound lightweight division he had called home for so long in favor of the 170-pound welterweight division. Though this plan seemed to be motivated in part by his consecutive lightweight losses to Eddie Alvarez and Tony Ferguson, he made it clear the real reason for this change of scenery was a brutal and exhausting cut to the lightweight division’s 155-pound cap. On Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Dos Anjos provided some context as to just how big he gets between fights, which in turn gives an idea of how much weight he has to cut to make lightweight. “195,” he said, when asked by Ariel Helwani how much he weighs currently. Apparently, however, this rather bulky amount is not due to his looming welterweight debut. instead, this is pretty standard for him between fights.  “Usually [this is where I start],” he said. “Usually I get [up to] 200 pounds, but I’ve been training for over a month. Actually, I don’t stop training. I’m always training. But as I trained, I had to diet really hard, because as much as I trained, my body would hold more water. Everything that I ate, my body kept. That’s why I decided to go up a weight [class]. My body holds too much weight.”

Tom Taylor - April 18, 2017

Earlier this year, former UFC welterweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos announced his intention to move up to the welterweight division, citing a tiresome cut to the lightweight division’s 155-pound cap as the reason for the move. After being called out by several dangerous welterweights – such as the rising Colby Covington – Dos Anjos was ultimately pencilled in for a welterweight debut opposite former Strikeforce welterweight champ Tarec Saffiedine. The pair will battle on June 17 in Singapore, not far from Evolve MMA were Dos Anjos has done much of his recent training. In advance of this anticipated showdown, Dos Anjos spoke with MMAFighting.com to discuss the fight itself and his future in the division:

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

Recently, former lightweight #1 contender Donald Cerrone looked to continue his impressive 4-fight welterweight win streak at ‘UFC Fight Night: Denver’ where he fought Jorge Masvidal in a pivotal showdown. Masvidal put on a stellar performance as he rocked Cerrone in the first round, before then ultimately finishing ‘Cowboy’ in the second round with strikes. The loss snapped Cerrone’s 4-fight win streak that saw him finish 4 straight opponents at welterweight throughout the course of 2016 following a 1st round TKO loss to Rafael dos Anjos in 2015 in a failed bid for the lightweight title.

bjpenndotcom - April 5, 2017

In just over two months, UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will step into the Octagon with former Strikeforce champion Tarec Saffiedine for the former champ’s highly anticipated welterweight debut in Singapore. Ahead of the fight, Dos Anjos is hoping to experience a bit of a career resurgence as he looks to snap a 2-fight skid that saw him lose the lightweight championship to Eddie Alvarez nearly a year ago, and then most recently drop a unanimous decision to top contender Tony Ferguson, who defeated Dos Anjos in November to cement his place among the top of the UFC’s lightweight division.

Tom Taylor - April 3, 2017

Earlier this year, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos announced his intention to move up to the welterweight division. The former champ cited an increasingly difficult cut to the lightweight division’s 155-pound cap as the reason for this move. “I reached the top of [lightweight],” he said in a Tweet. “It’s been a hard journey to make weight every time, now I want to fight at my best. I have new goals, I’m moving to [welterweight]. 

bjpenndotcom - March 31, 2017

Today, big news surfaced regarding two former champions, both of which are targeted to return to the Octagon this summer if things go according to plan. The first bit of news is that former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos is targeted to return at UFC 212 in June, only this time at welterweight. Dos Anjos is being targeted to fight Tarec Saffiedine in his highly anticipated welterweight debut, which he announced following his second straight loss at lightweight, which came to Tony Ferguson after losing his lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez in the summer of 2016. His opponent, Tarec Saffiedine, will be looking to snap a 2-fight skid that saw him drop back to back decision losses to Rick Story and Dong Hyun Kim.

bjpenndotcom - March 14, 2017

Back in July of 2016, UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos stepped into the Octagon in hopes of defending his lightweight title for the second time when he fought Eddie Alvarez. It took just three minutes and 49 seconds for Alvarez to finish the champ, claiming the lightweight championship as he landed a barrage of strikes that forced the referee to stop the fight. Following his loss to Alvarez, Dos Anjos stepped into the Octagon with streaking lightweight contender Tony Ferguson for a highly anticipated lightweight matchup that would determine the lightweight #1 contender. While a win for Dos Anjos would have likely put him on a fast track to a lightweight title fight, Tony Ferguson out-struck the former champ, picking up a unanimous decision win and ‘Fight of the Night’ honors in the process.

Tom Taylor - March 14, 2017

In early January, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos announced his intention to move up a weight class to the welterweight division. The former champ cited a tough weight cut to 155-pounds as the main reason for this exciting switch, though his back-to-back losses to Eddie Alvarez and Tony Ferguson and resulting desire for a fresh start probably also had some bearing on this decision. With the news of Dos Anjos’ planned move to welterweight, a veritable Dos Anjos sweepstakes began, as multiple noteworthy welterweights began campaigning for the chance to welcome him to this new division. Though Dos Anjos has brushed off many of these challenges, explaining that he’s keen on a fight with Robbie Lawler or Nick Diaz, callouts of him continue to this day.

Chris Taylor - March 12, 2017

UFC welterweight standout Alan Jouban will return to the octagon next weekend in London where he will square off with Gunnar Nelson in the evening’s co-main event. Jouban is very happy to finally be booked against a top-ten opponent, this after working his way up the divisions rankings over the past three years.

bjpenndotcom - February 16, 2017

After dropping his second straight loss at lightweight in 2016, Rafael dos Anjos announced that he would be making the jump up to welterweight in hopes of experiencing a bit of a career resurgence. The former lightweight champ explained that over the course of his two losses in 2016, he continued to experience struggles making the lightweight title fight limit of 140 pounds.

bjpenndotcom - January 21, 2017

In early 2017, talks of a potential Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather superfight picked up steam as Mayweather offered McGregor $15 million to accept the boxing match. While McGregor of course didn’t publicly fire back at Mayweather, UFC President Dana White was quick to make a counteroffer as he offered the undefeated prizefighter $25 million to fight McGregor, with McGregor also getting an even $25 million. Mayweather of course wasn’t satisfied with the $25 million dollar offer, and called UFC President Dana White a comedian as he reiterated that he would not fight for less than $100 million. Throughout all of this, boxing promoter Bob Arum has maintained that the talks are all meaningless, saying:

Chris Taylor - January 8, 2017

Surging UFC welterweight Alan Jouban (15-4 MMA) is coming off arguably the finest performance of his octagon career at last month’s UFC on FOX 22 event in Sacramento, where he handed Mike Perry (9-1 MMA) the first loss of his professional career via unanimous decision. The victory marked Alan Jouban’s third win in a row and fifth in his past six octagon appearances.

Tom Taylor - January 8, 2017

After back-to-back losses to Eddie Alvarez and Tony Ferguson, former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos has announced his intention to move to the 170-pound welterweight division. The former champ made this announcement on Twitter earlier this week. I reached the top of LW,it's been a hard journey make weight every time,now I want to fight at my best,I have new goals, I'm moving to WW

Tom Taylor - January 6, 2017

After two straight losses, former lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos has announced his intention to head north to the welterweight division. Dos Anjos made this announcement on his official Twitter account on Friday morning. See his rather surprising announcement below:

Tom Taylor - November 22, 2016

Last Saturday, on the main card of UFC Fight Night 100, streaking welterweight Kamaru Usman dominated Warlley Alves to a lopsided, unanimous decision win. It was one of the best wins of his already impressive career. In the moments after his defeat of Alves, Usman sought to catapult himself up the welterweight rankings with a callout of the streaking Demian Maia. Unfortunately for him, Maia wasn’t particularly interested in this callout. Given that he holds the welterweight division’s number three spot, while Usman is not yet ranked, that’s not particularly surprising.

Tom Taylor - November 15, 2016

Joe Rogan says RDA passed out for 3 mins before his fight with Eddie Alvarez. This cutting a ton of weight needs to be stopped. You think? pic.twitter.com/FwZIgBtXv5 — The MMA Bible (@TheMMABible) November 15, 2016