A little more than two months have passed since Rafael dos Anjos dethroned lightweight kingpin Anthony Pettis at UFC 185 and crowned himself the new 155-pound UFC champion. He won’t defend the belt anytime soon, as the Brazilian will likely be out until the end of the year with a knee injury sustained only weeks before the fight. So RDA obviously has lots of time to think about things, and he just came up with this idea recently.
“I just got my lightweight belt. I’m looking forward to defending it a couple of times, then maybe I’ll do some fights in the welterweight division in the future,” he told MMA Junkie. “I think once I get older, I’m going to get tired of cutting weight. I could just go there and fight (at welterweight). I think that’s my goal. I’m going to defend my belt a couple of times and maybe go to the welterweight division and do some superfights like Ben Henderson.”
Since he’s out until December and wants to defend his belt “a couple of times”, it is safe to say that we will have to wait for RDA’s welterweight debut for a fairly long time. However, the newly-crowned champion wants to show that he is not only the best fighter in the world at 155 pounds, but regardless of any weight limits.
“I want to prove everyone that I’m not a champion by luck,” dos Anjos said. “I work hard, and I want to prove to everyone that I’m a top-10 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. I just want to prove to everyone that I came to stay. I’m not here for one title defense. I came to stay.”
Dos Anjos’ first title defense will come against Donald Cerrone, according to UFC president Dana White. RDA beat Cerrone on points in 2013. The last man to beat him, the current number-one ranked lightweight Khabib Nurmagomedov, is also sidelined by a knee injury at the moment.