Rafael dos Anjos is moving up to 170 pounds and he knows who he’d like to welcome him to the weight class.
‘RDA’ once ruled as the champion of the talent-stacked 155-pound division, but after an unfortunate run-in with Eddie Alvarez at UFC Fight Night 90, dos Anjos found himself on a losing spill after having his five-fight win streak snapped. Dos Anjos attempted to get back in the win column this past November, but was unable to match Tony Ferguson’s dominance in their Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale (TUF Latin America 3 Finale) main event.
After revealing that his weight cuts to 155 pounds have been strenuous ones as of late, the Brazilian made the decision to jump up in weight class, and tells Combate that he’d like former 170-pound title-challenger Nick Diaz to welcome him to the division (translation via Bloody Elbow):
“I’ve been talking about this. I’ve been thinking Nick Diaz would be a good fight. I have some history with his brother and he’s just there, not fighting. But I don’t know if he wants to fight now.
“People ask me if I really want to start against those guys. I came to this weight class to do fights that matter, not fighters who would only serve as a way up the ladder for me. I’ve been training a lot of boxing. Everybody trains jiu-jitsu and muay thai, but they forget the basic principles of boxing and that makes a difference.”
Diaz has not competed since his five round fight with Anderson Silva in January of 2015, which resulted in a No Contest after Silva tested positive for banned substances and Diaz was over the limit for marijuana metabolites. The Stockton Native has not won a bout since his 2011 unanimous decision win over UFC Hall Of Famer BJ Penn, but would present an interesting match-up for dos Anjos if the two are to be paired up.
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