Jose Aldo hopes teammate Renan Barao moves up to featherweight following loss to T.J. Dillashaw

RIO DE JANEIRO — UFC president Dana White believes former bantamweight champion Renan Barao “should probably move up” to 145 pounds following a second TKO loss to T.J. Dillashaw, and the biggest star of Barao’s team agrees.

Jose Aldo, who holds the UFC 145-pound championship, told the media at UFC 190 that Barao cuts too much weight to compete at 135 pounds, so moving up to his division could be a good idea.

“We have to see what’s best for Barao,” Aldo said Saturday night at the HSBC Arena. “He suffers a lot to make weight. He’s kind of strong for the division. I hope me moves up, yes. I will root for him no matter what, no matter where he is, at 145 of 135. I hope he can fight well at featherweight, that he moves up well.

“He has a good head and will bounce back, at my weight or at bantamweight.”

Barao has only lost to Dillashaw over his past 36 bouts, dropping to 8-2 under the UFC banner, and Aldo believes it proved to be a bad match-up for the fellow Nova Uniao fighter.

“For sure. There are things we see and simply don’t work,” Aldo said. “This time Barao trained hard, we were confident he would do a completely different fight. He tried to fight the way he was training in the gym, but he couldn’t. T.J. was happy that night. He was able to impose his game.”

RIO DE JANEIRO — UFC president Dana White believes former bantamweight champion Renan Barao “should probably move up” to 145 pounds following a second TKO loss to T.J. Dillashaw, and the biggest star of Barao’s team agrees.

Jose Aldo, who holds the UFC 145-pound championship, told the media at UFC 190 that Barao cuts too much weight to compete at 135 pounds, so moving up to his division could be a good idea.

“We have to see what’s best for Barao,” Aldo said Saturday night at the HSBC Arena. “He suffers a lot to make weight. He’s kind of strong for the division. I hope me moves up, yes. I will root for him no matter what, no matter where he is, at 145 of 135. I hope he can fight well at featherweight, that he moves up well.

“He has a good head and will bounce back, at my weight or at bantamweight.”

Barao has only lost to Dillashaw over his past 36 bouts, dropping to 8-2 under the UFC banner, and Aldo believes it proved to be a bad match-up for the fellow Nova Uniao fighter.

“For sure. There are things we see and simply don’t work,” Aldo said. “This time Barao trained hard, we were confident he would do a completely different fight. He tried to fight the way he was training in the gym, but he couldn’t. T.J. was happy that night. He was able to impose his game.”