T.J. Dillashaw is now ready to face the original T.J. Dillashaw, Dominick Cruz

The good news for Renan Barao is that he won’t have to face T.J. Dillashaw again. In his “just for good measure” rematch with the current bantamweight champ he was stormed, looted, picked apart, cut into neat lines and then blown into a cloud of particles by the speedier, far more confident Dillashaw. It was a competitive fight for a little bit (if you squinted), then it became laughable. Dillashaw was styling on Barao by the end of the first round in Chicago, keeping his hands down around his belt loops, looking more like a playground taunt than a man in danger of losing his title.

By the fourth round, he landed something like 25 (but as many as 27) unanswered shots on Barao, as the one-time king of the division collapsed in on himself along the fence. There’s emphasis in that kind of onslaught. Especially when it happens on broadcast television, where the virginal eyes of casuals were free to grow as big as saucers.

And this was one of those fights that sends people on their way, careening into very different futures. Barao, who has struggled to make the 135-pound minimum for a long time, can bulk up a bit and move on to featherweight, where words like “reinvention” can be thrown at him. He’s only 28 years old. This can all be filed away as a “chapter” in his career. He had flirted with the idea of 145 before Dillashaw came along and insisted on the issue. One big win there and the music will return to this step.

As for Dillashaw, Saturday night’s win was a move into the spectrum of true legitimacy as a champion. No knock on the late-replacement Joe Soto at UFC 177, but this was in effect his first real title defense. The once mighty Barao has been vanquished, and now things get interesting in a division that has traditionally lacked imagination. Dillashaw, an alum of The Ultimate Fighter franchise of all things, is now the riddle to be solved.

There are a number of challenges for Dillashaw that carry intrigue, or at very least a back-story. Raphael Assuncao scored a split-decision victory over Dillashaw in 2013 out in Brazil. That’s a rematch that hovers out there, almost obligatorily. With ex/current-coach Duane Ludwig sort of turning Team Alpha Male into a divided house, there’s a potential clash with his longtime teammate (and “Bang” detractor) Urijah Faber. The best fights are family feuds. Then there’s the rematch with the ornery John Dodson, who is still smiling from that time he clubbed Dillashaw to win TUF 14. Dodson is slated to face flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson next, so it’ll have to wait.

And speaking of “Mighty Mouse,” what a fine fight that would be for Dillashaw.

None of these compare, though, to the most compelling fight of all. That would be pitting Dillashaw, who has incrementally gotten better with every showing by becoming a facsimile of Dominick Cruz, against Dominick Cruz himself. Good god, it’s almost too much to contemplate.

Long before there was a Renan Barao with a gold-plated belt, there was Cruz just flummoxing everybody in the weight class with bewitching movement and punch-combo alchemy. His movement was instantaneous and impulsive — like a guppy when the glass gets tapped — and he has the ability to know his opposition better than his opposition knows themselves. He came out of every fight in near mint condition, because he was a mirage in there. Hard to find. Hard to time. Hard to put a finger on. Nearly impossible to hit clean.

Imagine a fight between Cruz and Dillashaw. It would be all footwork, head movement and angle-play, just two guys bending minds in the game of chaos. When Dillashaw lands, Cruz would turn into a figment. When the Cruz lands, Dillashaw turns into the personification of geometry. That’s not just a great fight, that’s a fight with a mile of pure technical intrigue. The kind of fight that would make Joe Rogan lose his sh*t.

Of course, the question is not so much if but when.

Cruz has fought once since 2011, and he’s recovering from (yet another) ACL. It’s been a long time since a man stopped Cruz (which was Faber back in 2007), but he’s been ransacked by injuries and rotten luck. Just like when he returned against Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178 — whom he blitzed and destroyed in 61 seconds, by the way — we’re not sure in what form Cruz will return. We’re not sure if he’ll be ready to fight at any point in 2015. Dillashaw might have to defend that title again before Cruz is fully ready.

But the one thing that is certain is that Dillashaw is ready for Cruz. Back in the day, it was difficult to find Cruz a suitable dance partner. Such was he gap between him and everybody else. Cruz avenged his loss to Faber and beat Dillashaw’s other TAM training partner Joseph Benavidez twice and “Mighty Mouse” Johnson once. It was Cruz who created the flyweight division. Benavidez and Johnson had no place else to go.

In his absence, Dillashaw has closed the gap. In fact, almost like an ambitious understudy, Dillashaw has become a modern day Cruz. It’s a tribute, and it’s a challenge. There is homage, and there is revenge. For Cruz, the competitor, it’s killing him. For Dillashaw, it’s just time.

The only thing left to do is get them in the cage together as soon as possible.

The good news for Renan Barao is that he won’t have to face T.J. Dillashaw again. In his “just for good measure” rematch with the current bantamweight champ he was stormed, looted, picked apart, cut into neat lines and then blown into a cloud of particles by the speedier, far more confident Dillashaw. It was a competitive fight for a little bit (if you squinted), then it became laughable. Dillashaw was styling on Barao by the end of the first round in Chicago, keeping his hands down around his belt loops, looking more like a playground taunt than a man in danger of losing his title.

By the fourth round, he landed something like 25 (but as many as 27) unanswered shots on Barao, as the one-time king of the division collapsed in on himself along the fence. There’s emphasis in that kind of onslaught. Especially when it happens on broadcast television, where the virginal eyes of casuals were free to grow as big as saucers.

And this was one of those fights that sends people on their way, careening into very different futures. Barao, who has struggled to make the 135-pound minimum for a long time, can bulk up a bit and move on to featherweight, where words like “reinvention” can be thrown at him. He’s only 28 years old. This can all be filed away as a “chapter” in his career. He had flirted with the idea of 145 before Dillashaw came along and insisted on the issue. One big win there and the music will return to this step.

As for Dillashaw, Saturday night’s win was a move into the spectrum of true legitimacy as a champion. No knock on the late-replacement Joe Soto at UFC 177, but this was in effect his first real title defense. The once mighty Barao has been vanquished, and now things get interesting in a division that has traditionally lacked imagination. Dillashaw, an alum of The Ultimate Fighter franchise of all things, is now the riddle to be solved.

There are a number of challenges for Dillashaw that carry intrigue, or at very least a back-story. Raphael Assuncao scored a split-decision victory over Dillashaw in 2013 out in Brazil. That’s a rematch that hovers out there, almost obligatorily. With ex/current-coach Duane Ludwig sort of turning Team Alpha Male into a divided house, there’s a potential clash with his longtime teammate (and “Bang” detractor) Urijah Faber. The best fights are family feuds. Then there’s the rematch with the ornery John Dodson, who is still smiling from that time he clubbed Dillashaw to win TUF 14. Dodson is slated to face flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson next, so it’ll have to wait.

And speaking of “Mighty Mouse,” what a fine fight that would be for Dillashaw.

None of these compare, though, to the most compelling fight of all. That would be pitting Dillashaw, who has incrementally gotten better with every showing by becoming a facsimile of Dominick Cruz, against Dominick Cruz himself. Good god, it’s almost too much to contemplate.

Long before there was a Renan Barao with a gold-plated belt, there was Cruz just flummoxing everybody in the weight class with bewitching movement and punch-combo alchemy. His movement was instantaneous and impulsive — like a guppy when the glass gets tapped — and he has the ability to know his opposition better than his opposition knows themselves. He came out of every fight in near mint condition, because he was a mirage in there. Hard to find. Hard to time. Hard to put a finger on. Nearly impossible to hit clean.

Imagine a fight between Cruz and Dillashaw. It would be all footwork, head movement and angle-play, just two guys bending minds in the game of chaos. When Dillashaw lands, Cruz would turn into a figment. When the Cruz lands, Dillashaw turns into the personification of geometry. That’s not just a great fight, that’s a fight with a mile of pure technical intrigue. The kind of fight that would make Joe Rogan lose his sh*t.

Of course, the question is not so much if but when.

Cruz has fought once since 2011, and he’s recovering from (yet another) ACL. It’s been a long time since a man stopped Cruz (which was Faber back in 2007), but he’s been ransacked by injuries and rotten luck. Just like when he returned against Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178 — whom he blitzed and destroyed in 61 seconds, by the way — we’re not sure in what form Cruz will return. We’re not sure if he’ll be ready to fight at any point in 2015. Dillashaw might have to defend that title again before Cruz is fully ready.

But the one thing that is certain is that Dillashaw is ready for Cruz. Back in the day, it was difficult to find Cruz a suitable dance partner. Such was he gap between him and everybody else. Cruz avenged his loss to Faber and beat Dillashaw’s other TAM training partner Joseph Benavidez twice and “Mighty Mouse” Johnson once. It was Cruz who created the flyweight division. Benavidez and Johnson had no place else to go.

In his absence, Dillashaw has closed the gap. In fact, almost like an ambitious understudy, Dillashaw has become a modern day Cruz. It’s a tribute, and it’s a challenge. There is homage, and there is revenge. For Cruz, the competitor, it’s killing him. For Dillashaw, it’s just time.

The only thing left to do is get them in the cage together as soon as possible.