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Rafael dos Anjos reveals another story about a grueling weight cut episode.
One of Rafael dos Anjos’ biggest opponents throughout his career has been his weight cutting. In 2016, “RDA” revealed to have punishing experiences just to make the 155-pound limit, one of which, he says, almost killed him.
Now supposedly more comfortable at 170-pounds, the former lightweight champion went through another episode involving his weight cut. Recently speaking to MMA Junkie, the 35-year-old Brazilian competitor revealed his recent mishap involving an infrared sauna as he prepared for his fight against Michael Chiesa in January.
“I did something bad in my weight cut. I decided to cut the rest of my weight, like the rest of the eight pounds that I had, I decided to do a different type of sauna,” he said. “I usually do exercise, but I decided to do infrared sauna because I found a little gym by the side of the hotel in Raleigh, and they had an infrared sauna, and I felt kind of weird.
“It took me like 10 minutes to break the sweat, and once I broke the sweat, it took me like 30 minutes. I did like 30 minutes, and by the time I got home, that was Thursday night, I felt overheated.
“Over the night, I felt so much headache, and I couldn’t sleep,” he continued. “I was so overheated, and I had to do an ice bath right after weigh-ins, and my body was overheated and I found out later on that these infrared saunas, they heat you inside out. They go right in the middle of your cells; they heat from inside out. I go five rounds with no problem, but for that fight, after the first round, I was pretty much done. I had no energy. That was pretty weird, and I think that was the infrared sauna that messed me up.”
Dos Anjos ended up losing via unanimous decision, and is now on a two-fight losing streak.