Rafael dos Anjos News

EVOLVE MMA - May 8, 2017

This video was first published on Evolve MMA. Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos is one of the world’s most devastating strikers. The 32-year old’s ability to stop an opponent has led him to a plethora of highlight reel finishes. He is known as one of the most relentless offensive fighters in the UFC.

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 6, 2017

Earlier this year, former UFC lightweight champ Rafael Dos Anjos announced his intention to move up to the welterweight division. Shortly after the former champ made this announcement, he began fielding callouts from a number of notable welterweights. Of all the welterweights to call Dos Anjos out, however, none did so with quite the same fervor or creativity as rising star Colby Covington. Unfortunately for Covington and his fans, Dos Anjos ultimately opted to sign on for a fight with former Strikeforce champ Tarec Saffiedine, which will go down when the UFC returns to Singapore on June 17.

Scott Hernandez - 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.

Scott Hernandez - 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]. 

Scott Hernandez - March 15, 2017

Former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos recently announced his move to the welterweight division in the midst of a 2-fight skid at lightweight which saw him lose the lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez in the summer of 2016 before then dropping a unanimous decision to Tony Ferguson in a fight which likely could have fast-tracked him to a rematch for the UFC lightweight title. Following his second straight loss, Dos Anjos revealed that he would be making the jump from 155 to 170 due to the fact that making the cut to 155 was no longer worth it financially after he lost his title.

Scott Hernandez - 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.

Scott Hernandez - January 26, 2017

In 2017, former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos will step in the Octagon at welterweight for the first time in his professional career after dropping back to back losses at 155 in 2016. Halfway through the year, dos Anjos stepped into the Octagon in hopes of defending his lightweight title for the second time as he faced Eddie Alvarez. Unfortunately for the champ, just minutes into the fight the referee was forced to intervene and stop the bout, as Alvarez was awarded the TKO win and the lightweight championship. In his next fight, RDA was looking to return to the win column as he fought streaking contender Tony Ferguson in a highly anticipated showdown. Ultimately, Ferguson picked dos Anjos apart over the course of 5 rounds, and was awarded the unanimous decision win.

Scott Hernandez - 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

Scott Hernandez - November 24, 2016

It’s no secret that the lightweight division is one of the UFC’s most exciting divisions. The top 5 of the UFC’s lightweight division according to the promotions official rankings are as follows: Champion – Conor McGregor #1 Khabib Nurmagomedov #2 Tony Ferguson #3 Eddie Alvarez #4 Rafael dos Anjos #5 Nate Diaz

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.