Dos Anjos won’t return to 155 unless it’s ‘financially worth the effort’

Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports

Former lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos would only drop back to his original division under special conditions.

The UFC will have to make quite the offer if they wish to see former UFC lightweight champion Rafael dos Anjos back to in the division he once reigned.

A welterweight fighter since June 2017, Rafael found some sucess in his early bouts at the heavier weight class, but started to struggle with the bigger athletes in his most recent outings. Nonetheless, he doesn’t wish to go back to lightweight because the process was becoming way too grueling as he aged. In the past he has stated that he “could have died” with some of the horrific weight cuts he went through to make 155 lbs.

In an interview with Ag Fight, Rafael revealed he would only drop back to lightweight if the UFC made an offer good enough to outweigh the ordeal that weight cutting is for him, and provided that he would also come back close to a title shot.

“That possibility is small. If the UFC needed me to, I’d need about four months to lower my weight. I would have to talk to the UFC and really think about it, because if I’m going to put my body under that level of stress again, it would have to be for a fight that would be financially worth the effort.”

“If they told me I would fight a guy and then fight for the belt right after, I could think about it.” Rafael continued. “But some numbers would have to change, because it’s a big effort. Normally, people say I’m small, but my head has weight, my bones have weight. I used to be a lightweight when I was 30, but now I’m 35. It’s not that I’m old or fat, but as you mature, your body becomes heavier.”

Currently on a two-fight skid, Dos Anjos (29-13) lost dropped unanimous decisions to both Leon Edwards and Michael Chiesa in his last outings, the most recent one being a defeat to ‘Maverick’, back in January. The 35-year-old’s last win came in May 2019, when he finished Kevin Lee via submission.