If there’s one thing T.J. Dillashaw knows how to do, it’s prepare for Renan Barao.
While it may not have been the UFC’s original plan, Dillashaw will once again fight Barao with the bantamweight championship on the line at UFC 186, a rematch made inevitable by recent and untimely injuries to the division’s other top two contenders, Dominick Cruz and Raphael Assuncao.
“I was super disappointed that Cruz was hurt,” Dillashaw admitted this week on The MMA Hour. “That’s the fight I wanted. That’s the fight the fans wanted. When I first got into this sport he was the champion in WEC, so that’s who I was looking forward to fighting.”
The story behind Dillashaw and Barao’s rivalry is one of vastly contrasting years. Dillashaw entered 2014 as barely a blip on the bantamweight radar, while Barao was the streaking champion drawing praise as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. Fate led the two to meet at UFC 173, where Dillashaw cemented one of the sport’s all-time great upsets by finishing Barao with a fifth-round barrage of strikes.
An immediate rematch was booked for three months later, despite reluctant protests from Dillashaw. But it wasn’t meant to be. Barao infamously dropped out of the fight after fainting and hitting his head while cutting weight, leading the unheralded Joe Soto to fill the void and fight Dillashaw on 24-hour’s notice. Dillashaw submitted yet another fifth-round finish, and now, for the third camp in a row, he’ll be forced to prepare himself for Barao’s vaunted arsenal.
“I feel like [a rematch against Barao] is still a very marketable fight with how great of a fighter he was the last decade,” Dillashaw said. “That’s still a big fight that everyone wants to see. It didn’t get to happen in Sacramento, so there’s even more build-up now.
“It does suck that my last three training camps have been training for Renan Barao and getting ready for the same guy, but it’s also a blessing as well. I don’t have to think too much into what my next opponent is going to do. I know what Barao is going to do and I’ve already been training for the guy for a really long time, so I just get to continue where I left off.”
Barao, like Dillashaw, has fought only once since the pair’s stunning first meeting, submitting Mitch Gagnon with a third-round arm-triangle choke this past December. The performance earned Barao a post-fight UFC bonus, however his relatively sluggish start did little to sway Dillashaw from what he believes to already be true about the Brazilian.
“As the great GSP would say, I was not impressed with his performance. He didn’t look good against Gagnon,” Dillashaw said. “Him missing weight (at UFC 177) was completely unprofessional. I think he’s too big for the weight class in general.
“I think he’s too slow for the weight class. I’m going to prove that again. He feels like a step behind. Gagnon could’ve won the fight if he wouldn’t have gassed himself out. Gagnon looked faster than him. I feel like it’s just going to take a toll on him with how much weight he’s cutting and how long his camp is going to have to be for cutting weight. For me, I don’t have to start cutting weight until a week out.”
Ultimately, Dillashaw is just happy to return to work after spending a majority of the winter recovering from elbow surgery. He’s scheduled to meet Barao on April 25 in Montreal, Canada, then he hopes to never have to hear from the man whose spot he usurped again.
“I’m going to make a statement in this fight,” Dillashaw said. “Get this guy behind me and put him on the backburner. I’m tired of hearing this guy’s name. I feel that I’m just his kryptonite and I’m going to demolish him.
“I can’t wait to show everyone. He talked a little crap after his fight, so I’m going to give him an ass-whooping, man. I’m going to bring it to him. It’s going to be a lot faster of a finish than the first time. I’m not going to wait around to the fifth round to put him away.”