Renan Barao‘s head coach, Andre Pederneiras, wants an immediate rematch with TJ Dillashaw…in Brazil.
According to MMA Fighting’s Guilherme Cruz, the Nova Uniao trainer and coach recently appeared on the radio show No Mundo da Luta, where he said that he’s targeting a second scrap with the newly minted bantamweight king at UFC 179 in Rio de Janeiro.
We’re asking for an immediate rematch. It’s fair, and we’re looking a way to do it…It can’t happen in less than five or six months, but I think that’s how long T.J. is going to be out. Everybody wants to see another fight between them, since it was the fight of the night.
Pederneiras even did his part to hype the rematch on air, questioning Dillashaw‘s manhood and not-so-subtly inferring that the new champ would be afraid to take this hypothetical fight.
“Let’s see (if) these guys are man enough to fight Barao in his house,” Pederneiras said.
Even in the sport of MMA, where illogical fights are booked so long as they can generate some interest, this makes no sense.
For starters, Dillashaw demolished Barao from the first second of the first round until the finish in the fifth round, a one-sided massacre unlike anything we’ve seen from a challenger since Cain Velasquez dethroned Junior dos Santos at UFC 155.
This was not a fluke victory or an early one-punch knockout; this was Dillashaw completely outclassing the champion wherever the fight went.
Barao should not receive an immediate rematch just because he’s Renan Barao. If he had stood toe-to-toe with Dillashaw and dropped a controversial split decision, then we can talk. As it is, though, Barao owns no claim to a rematch after his performance at UFC 173.
Secondly, why Brazil? Why should the champion feel the need to prove his manliness by fighting in the challenger’s home country? You lose badly and then ask for a rematch on your home turf?
As fun and wild as it would be, that makes no sense.
Finally, we have Raphael Assuncao, the Brazilian bantamweight stud who had to decline the fight with Barao at UFC 173 due to injury.
Dillashaw was not even supposed to fight for the title; that was Assuncao‘s fight to take. The injury bug is a feisty beast, though, and Assuncao politely turned down his shot at the 135-pound strap, gifting Dillashaw the opportunity of a lifetime.
For his part, Assuncao is on a six-fight winning streak, and he’s the last man to defeat Dillashaw inside the Octagon, doing so by split decision in October 2013 at UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Shields.
He’s obviously next in line, and the rematch injects a nice dose of intrigue to the future showdown.
Oh, and Assuncao probably shouldn’t expect to receive this fight in Brazil.
That’s just not how it works.
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