Former UFC lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos says he's moving up to welterweight

Rafael dos Anjos is headed to a new weight class.

The former UFC lightweight champion announced today he is moving up to welterweight, ending a nine-year run in the promotion at 155 pounds. The news was first reported by Brazilian MMA outlet Combate.

Dos Anjos (25-9 MMA, 14-7 UFC), 32, said ongoing struggles with weight motivated him to try his luck in the 170-pound division.

“I reached the top of (lightweight), (and) it’s been a hard journey make weight every time,” he wrote on Twitter. “Now I want to fight at my best, I have new goals, (and) I’m moving to WW.”

The news comes two months after dos Anjos’ setback to No. 1 contender Tony Ferguson (22-3 MMA, 12-1 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 98. Over five rounds, he struggled to keep up with Ferguson’s inventive striking and fast pace and was unanimously outpointed. It was his second straight loss after ceding the lightweight title to Eddie Alvarez in the first round at UFC on FOX 19.

Dos Anjos’ late-career comeback was one of the more impressive in the UFC lightweight division. On two occasions, he won five straight in the octagon, losing only to current lightweight contender Khabib Nurmagomedov, and won the title by upsetting Anthony Pettis in March 2015. He then defended the belt with a first-round TKO of Donald Cerrone at UFC on FOX 17.

For recent fights, however, the 32-year-old dos Anjos said his weight cut to 155 pounds became more difficult.

“Between 2014 and 2015 I fought five times and after that, in this race for the belt, my body changed a little,” he told Combate. “In the fight against Cerrone, when I defended the belt for the first time, I already felt my body different. Against Eddie Alvarez was even worse, and in the fight with Tony Ferguson was already much more difficult.”

The No. 5 fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings, dos Anjos remains unbooked for his next fight.

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.