Rafael Dos Anjos says he passed out during weight cut for Alvarez fight

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.

“I passed out in the bathtub, in the hot tub… I was out for like almost three minutes,” dos Anjos said (via MMAFighting.com). “My coaches were about to call 911 and cancel the fight because I was out on my bed, and they put some ice on my chest, and then I woke up and stayed on my bed for one hour.”

“We thought about cancelling the fight but I’m a fighter, I don’t wanna upset the fans,” he continued. “But thinking back right now, I shouldn’t make that fight because today guys all the time kind of don’t fight because they have weight problems. Khabib [Nurmagomedov], the other day, he didn’t make the fight with [Tony] Ferguson because he had some issues, but it’s fine. That’s past. Now a new division, a new life.”

Dos Anjos will enter his bout in Singapore having lost his last two fights. First, he surrendered the lightweight title to Alvarez, succumbing to first-round punches. Next and most recently, he was outfought by the streaking Tony Ferguson in the main event of the UFC’s latest trip to Mexico. Do you think Rafael Dos Anjos will perform better now that he doesn’t have to endure the brutal cut to lightweight? Sound off, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/24/2017.