“I can’t say the result wasn’t good for us. It was. The belt changing hands is great for us. If T.J. (Dillashaw) continued as champion, we wouldn’t have a third fight between T.J. and (Renan) Barao, so the result was really good for us. If you ask me if [another title shot is] what I want, of course it is. That’s what I want. But we have to wait and see how everything goes. It’s too soon to talk about it.”
Andre Pederneiras, longtime coach and manager for ex-Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight champion Renan Barao, recently told reporters (via MMA Fighting) he’s not going to lose any sleep over TJ Dillashaw’s loss to Dominick Cruz last weekend in Boston (watch it). Probably because Barao had no chance of competing for the 135-pound strap after consecutive knockout losses to Dillashaw, which were enough to send the Brazilian up in weight (for now). That said, there is still plenty of clutter in the bantamweight division, as well as a possible foot injury to Cruz, but we can at least agree that fighting the No. 2-ranked Barao keeps “The Dominator” from taking another trip down rematch road.