Bleacher Report’s Dale De Souza:
He may be the most lethal and most promising Bantamweight that you’ve never heard of.
His official record is 25-1 with 1 no-contest due to an illegally utilized soccer kick, with 12 submission wins, seven decision wins and six wins by form of knockout against the split decision loss in his first career fight.
Breaking down the record even further, he has unanimously won by decision six times, with one split decision victory, as well as five wins by rear-naked choke, one win by kneebar, two wins by armbar, two wins by triangle choke, one win by Kimura and one win by Ankle Lock.
Mix all that together with three TKO wins by punches, one TKO win due to an arm injury suffered by his opponent in the first 58 seconds of the third round of their fight and two wins by way of KO (one of which was due to a knee), and what you have is the man who will stand across the cage from former WEC Featherweight Champion Cole Escovedo at UFC 130.
Ladies and gentleman, I present to you Renan Barão of the Nova Uniao Jiu-Jitsu Academy—famous for such stars as former DREAM Featherweight Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes, former Sengoku Featherweight Champion and current Bellator Featherweight “The Monster of Rio” Marlon Sandro, and current UFC Featherweight Champion Jose “Scarface” Aldo.
Barão is 25-0 with that no-contest ever since his first pro fight, which he lost, and he will look to extend his streak to 26-0 at Escovedo’s expense.
First, however, we must take a trip through the career of “The Baron” to understand what Escovedo has his hands full with come May 28th.