Coming in to 2017 off the back of two straight losses, Rafael dos Anjos is wanting to change his fortune. Against Eddie Alvarez, ‘RDA’ lost the belt, and then got pieced up by Tony Ferguson over five rounds. Prior to those two losses dos Anjos was riding five straight wins. The Brazilian grappler won the belt with a masterful performance against Anthony Pettis, and defended with a stoppage of Donald Cerrone. The beating he handed ‘Cowboy’ essentially sent him up a weight class, but now ‘RDA’ is following suit.
Following Cerrone up to the welterweight category, dos Anjos announced his intentions for change, but why? According to the BJJ black belt, he nearly died to make 155 pounds against Alvarez last July. Speaking with ESPN.com, ‘RDA’ says without the title, the risk to his life is not worth the money at lightweight any more.
Near Death Experience
“Everything was on plan. We had 3 pounds to lose the morning of the weigh-in. The night before, we had lost 8 or 9 pounds during training. I jumped in the [Epsom salt] bath for 15 minutes, and when I stood up, I felt dizzy. I sat down again on the edge of the bath and felt OK, started to stand up again, and I just fell backward. My head was two inches from the faucet. I could have died that day.”
“My coaches took me out of the bath and placed me on the bed. I came back for a couple of seconds and passed out again. I came back and passed out a third time. I was almost out for three minutes, they said. At one point, they said, ‘Let’s call 911 and cancel the fight.’ I woke up and asked them what was going on. And after all that, I still didn’t know if I had made the weight. So I had to check my weight, but I couldn’t stand up. I lied down with a cold towel on my head. It took me about 40 minutes to get up. I checked my weight, and it said 155. If I hadn’t been on weight, there’s no way I could do any more. I couldn’t do it. On the walk to the weigh-ins, I was just feeling miserable.”
I have a strong mind, so I was feeling ready to go. One strange thing, though, my training partners noticed during warm-ups that I wasn’t sweating as much as usual. My body kind of shut down, and I wasn’t sweating. When I got hit in the fight, it wasn’t like — I’ve gotten hit harder than that before — but I just lost my legs. It was weird. I want to give credit to Alvarez, but for sure, the weight cut affected me a little bit.
The problem was that I started thinking, “I just passed out because I stood up too fast. Next time, I will make sure I don’t stand up fast.” Then we took care of everything, and still, I almost passed out. It was hard for me. I just thought I had made a mistake against Alvarez and I would be able to avoid making that mistake again, but I think cutting to 155 is just too stressful. I think I have the passion to do what I do, and right now, I’m 200 pounds. Once I get back in shape, I’ll be 180, and those last 10 pounds will be easy.
I can fight there again, but for how much money I’m making right now, it’s not worth it. I’m killing myself to make 155, and [without the championship] I’m not making much money. I would make 155 pounds for a super fight or something, but for what I’m making today? No, it’s not worth making 155.
Thoughts
How effective will Rafael dos Anjos be at welterweight? No doubt he’ll be one of , if not the smallest 170-pounder, but can he make that work? Recent examples of similar situations include Kelvin Gastelum blasting Tim Kennedy, or Ben Henderson taking out Brandon Thatch. Only time will tell, but no more near death weight cuts for dos Anjos, that’s for sure.
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