After 2016 saw him drop his lightweight title and be summarily written out of the 155-pound title picture by back-to-back losses, Rafael dos Anjos looks reborn at welterweight.
That was the takeaway from Dos Anjos' impressive first-round submission win over Neil Magny on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 215. The victory gave the 32-year-old Brazilian two in a row at 170 pounds and abruptly put the top contenders in his newfound division on notice.
Now that Dos Anjos no longer has to nearly kill himself making weight, he's back to being bad, bad news.
"I was struggling so much to make weight [at lightweight]," Dos Anjos told UFC color commentator Joe Rogan in the cage after the fight.