There was a lot of hype and expectation the last time Renan Barao’s name was on a fight card.
After the Brazilian striking phenom had been shockingly dethroned by surging upstart T.J. Dillashaw in their first meeting at UFC 173 back in May, the Nova Un…
There was a lot of hype and expectation the last time Renan Barao‘s name was on a fight card.
After the Brazilian striking phenom had been shockingly dethroned by surging upstart T.J. Dillashaw in their first meeting at UFC 173 back in May, the Nova Uniao standout was poised for vengeance coming into their immediate rematch three months later at UFC 177. Not only would the 27-year-old Natal native have the opportunity to reclaim championship gold but to even the score for what his camp felt was an unnecessary amount of post-fight trash-talking out of Dillashaw’s Team Alpha Male squad.
All of these elements combined to make the rematch a high-profile affair, but the day before the action was set to go down, disaster struck for the former champion. While Barao was no stranger to cutting a lot of weight to make the 135-pound limit, that time around was different, and the former titleholder’s body began to shut down on him, which led to a fainting spell that ultimately scratched him from the fight.
Barao’s being pulled from the card for medical reasons unleashed a wave of chaos that saw the UFC remove promotional newcomer and former Bellator champion Joe Soto from his scheduled bout with Anthony Birchak and place him across the Octagon from Dillashaw in a bout for the bantamweight title. All of this happened while Barao was forced to watch from the sidelines, and with UFC President Dana White publicly announcing he would not be paid for his troubles, the young Brazilian had to do so at the complete opposite end of the spectrum than what he had expected from his trip to Sacramento, California.
Nevertheless, four months have passed since the debacle at UFC 177, and Barao is ready to reignite his run back toward the bantamweight throne. He will get his first opportunity to get things back on track when he squares off with surging prospect Mitch Gagnon at UFC Fight Night 58 this Saturday night.
Yet, while his last time out ended in failure before he ever had the chance to compete—and a win over Gagnon would rebuild some of his damaged prestige because of the past incident—Barao isn’t spending a single moment dwelling in the past.
He believes what is done is done, and he is only concerned with moving forward.
“I don’t think I have to prove anything to anyone anymore,” Barao told Bleacher Report. “I just have to go in there and do my job as best as I can. I think [Gagnon] is a tough fighter. He’s a dangerous fighter, but I’m not focused on what he is going to do in the fight. I’m very well-prepared for this, and I’m looking forward to getting back in there.
“My main goal is to win this fight and get closer to getting to the title. I want to get back in the title picture, and that is really my main focus right now at this time.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
Renan Barao wants to fight T.J. Dillashaw in Brazil.
You can’t blame a fighter for seeking a home-court advantage, and Brazil offers just such a thing. Tune in to any of the multiple UFC cards held in various Brazilian towns, and you’ll see local fight…
RenanBarao wants to fight T.J. Dillashaw in Brazil.
You can’t blame a fighter for seeking a home-court advantage, and Brazil offers just such a thing. Tune in to any of the multiple UFC cards held in various Brazilian towns, and you’ll see local fighters experiencing plenty of success. I can’t explain why they’re so successful, and I don’t have the metrics in front of me to prove it. But there’s no doubt Brazilians get a boost when they’re fighting in front of their countrymen.
Of course, this probably applies to other parts of the world too, including the United States. It’s just more pronounced in Brazil.
So Barao would like to fight Dillashaw again, and he’d like to do it in Brazil. The first time Barao faced Dillashaw, it was in Las Vegas, and Dillashaw battered the then-champion Barao before finishing him in the final round and taking his belt.
And of course, Barao inexplicably got an immediate rematch against Dillashaw.
Barao didn’t get the rematch because he deserved it. He didn’t get it because he’d been an enduring champion who held his title for years, like Anderson Silva. He didn’t get the rematch because the fight with Dillashaw was close or because it ended in controversial fashion. No, Barao got the rematch because the UFC had spent a lot of money building him up as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, and it couldn’t let that go to waste.
So Barao got the rematch, and then he tried to cut too much weight. He passed out and had to go to the hospital. He was removed from the title fight and replaced by Joe Soto. It was an embarrassing moment for Barao, for the UFC and for the sport as a whole.
To recap, a quick glance at the scorecard between Dillashaw and Barao: Dillashaw has a dominant win over Barao, and Barao has a weight-cut failure that forced him out of the rematch.
With all of that taken into considered, you’d think Barao would be a little more humble. But you’d be wrong. Here’s what he told Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com about Dillashaw not wanting to fight him in Brazil:
“I think he would crap his pants. Fighting in the United States is easy. I want to see him fighting me in Brazil. It’s completely different.”
Here’s the part of Barao‘s quote that sticks out to me: “Fighting in the United States is easy.”
Again, Barao was dominated in his first fight against Dillashaw. He didn’t even make it to the Octagon the second time around because he couldn’t properly manage a weight cut.
Perhaps fighting in the United States is not so easy after all?
Dillashaw is talking too much crap. If we fight again, you can be sure it will be completely different. When we fight again, he will see the real champion. I don’t like to make jokes, talk trash. I like to show my work inside the cage, show the best RenanBarao possible. (Dillashaw) can enjoy that belt for now, because it’s coming back to Brazil soon.
I don’t know how much crap Dillashaw is talking. What I do know is that Barao had his opportunity to fight Dillashaw again, and it was completely different.
And by completely different, I mean he passed out during a tough weight cut and went to the hospital and was replaced by a preliminary-level fighter making his UFC debut, thereby ruining a pay-per-view because he wanted to cut too much weight.
And it’s not as though Barao is jumping right back into another title shot. He’s scheduled to face Mitch Gagnon on December 20; Dillashaw will likely defend the belt against Dominick Cruz in early 2015. If both men escape from those fights unscathed, there’s no reason to think they won’t face off again. Barao will get his shot.
But he’s in no position to make demands of Dillashaw, or the UFC. There is a very good chance that when Barao and Dillashaw—whether it’s for UFC gold or not—meet again, it will happen on American soil, and Barao will have to grin and bear it.
Because that’s the sort of thing that happens when you are no longer the champ, and when your inability to make weight causes a pay-per-view main event to fall by the wayside. You lose your negotiating power, and you have to fight to get it back.
Former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao will make his return to the Octagon on Dec. 20 against Canadian Mitch Gagnon in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Dollaway. It will be quite the step up in competition for Gagnon, who will se…
Former UFC bantamweight champion RenanBarao will make his return to the Octagon on Dec. 20 against Canadian Mitch Gagnon in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Dollaway. It will be quite the step up in competition for Gagnon, who will see an even more motivated and angry Barao on fight night.
A vengefulBarao is looking to make a statement to the mixed martial arts world after he was thoroughly outclassed, and finished, by current champion T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 173. Things went from bad to worse when Barao fainted on the day of weigh-ins prior to his rematch with Dillashaw just three months later. Now, the Brazilian must regroup and channel his frustration towards Gagnon, who is 4-1 in the UFC.
“My preparation is going great,” BaraotoldSherdog.com’s GleidsonVenga. “I train three times a day and hope to give 100 percent so that everybody will keep talking about the fight. I hope they’ll enjoy it.”
Barao, the former pound-for-pound king of the 135-pound weight class, fell from grace just as he was beginning to establish a dominant legacy in the Octagon. The 27-year-old was riding a 16-fight win streak prior to his UFC debut. Barao was thrust into the spotlight with little to no experience fighting in a top promotion—he only fought twice in the WEC—but was a force in his native country of Brazil.
The Nova Uniao team member’s striking is a spectacle to watch. Similar to his teammate, Jose Aldo, Barao mixes up his punches well with deceptive spinning back kicks and crippling leg kicks. He’s also got the killer instict; when he smells blood in the water, it’s lights out for his opponents. For a 5’6″ bantamweight, Barao‘s reach is an impressive 70 inches.
His competitors are normally goaded into a stand-up exchange, partly because of his reach, which Barao uses to dictate the pace of the fight, but also because of his elite takedown defense. Prior to his bout with Dillashaw, Barao had stuffed 17 of 17 takedowns coming his way for a whopping 96 percent takedown defense percentage.
Barao‘s reign at the top of the 135-pound division was short but sweet. After winning the interim title, in Dominick Cruz’s absence against Urijah Faber, Barao went on to defend the strap three times, including once more vs. Faber. His run included finishes of Michael McDonald, Eddie Wineland and Faber.
Like every human, even a top-level UFC fighter can experience a sudden downfall. While not the most marketable or talkative fighter, Barao was part of the new wave of Brazilian mixed martial artists. Along with former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos and Aldo, Barao was the last of his young countrymen to win a title, and nearly the last one to lose it.
Aldo is the last one left standing, with Barao forced to answer the questions that followed his UFC 177 weigh-in debacle, which cost him an immediate chance of putting the memory of a one-sided title defense loss behind him.
Four months is the amount of time between his missed opportunity and a chance at silencing critics on UFC Fight Night. The man he is up against, Gagnon, has only lost once in the Octagon, which came against bantamweight contender Bryan Caraway in his UFC debut. Since the loss, Gagnon has went on to steamroll his way through the division, with all three of his finishes coming in the first round.
The 30-year-old, who began his MMA career six years ago, sports solid wrestling and jiu-jitsu skills—he’s a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu—but also displays great power in his hands. A funny fact about Gagnon: he has only fought in his native country of Canada because of his visa issues. The Canadian will be traveling to hostile territory this winter when he heads south of the equator to Barueri, Brazil, to tangle with Barao.
Gagnon presents a unique challenge to Barao. He is the first southpaw fighter Barao has faced in the UFC. This can potentially alter Barao‘s game plan for a couple of reasons; one, because he will need to be wary of the well-timed straight left and, two, because of the left head kick. Don’t let his three submission wins fool you; Gagnon is a more-than-capable striker.
He dropped Walel Watson, via a left hook, before securing an easy rear-naked choke. Note: Gagnon has rarely, if at all, fought in the southpaw stance in the UFC but has prior to his time with the promotion.
Like Barao, Gagnon possesses excellent takedown defense and striking defense. Make no mistake about it, when the two battle in Brazil, it’s going to be a stand-up affair. With the pair boasting takedown defensive percentages upwards of 85 percent, it’s unlikely this fight will go to the ground.
Barao is a black belt in BJJ and has only been taken down once in his WEC/UFC career. Gagnon was neutralized by the grappler Caraway back in July 2012, but outside of his debut, he has shown great activity while on his back.
“I definitely think I can (submit Barao),” Gagnontold MMAFighting’s Guilherme Cruz. “I will put the pressure on him and if he makes any mistake, I’ll definitely [be] getting a submission.”
If the pressure is on any fighter in this tussle, it’s Barao. Figuratively speaking, if he was to lose this bout against a 15th-ranked bantamweight contender, Barao‘s collapse would rival that of the 2004 New York Yankees. One would start to question his desire, motive to fight and overall work ethic. Thankfully, it’s not Dec. 20 yet.
A win for Gagnon could rocket him into the top 10 of the bantamweight division, or at least have him teetering on the outside of it. Gagnon has a skill set that can cause problems for the former champion. He has also performed well against fighters who have a 70-inch reach or greater, but he has yet to face anyone who is as fast and as technically sound as Barao.
Barao is now in a logjam atop the bantamweight ladder, with Cruz set to fight for the title next year and Raphael Assuncao waiting for his shot. Assuncao defeated Dillashaw previously at UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Shields. With a renewed focus and a noticeable mean streak, it’s up to Barao to put away this would-be challenger and assert himself back in the mix.
In a year that has seen nine pay-per-view headliners slip through the UFC’s fingers, Cain Velasquez’s injury and subsequent removal from UFC 180 might the biggest blow of them all (I hear a nasty tumble down a flight of stairs is to blame for all this). The TUF curse has now gone international, folks, and while I’m not prepared to start nailing the UFC’s coffin shut, I will say that the champ’s most recent injury has cast an ominous shadow over the UFC’s first trip to Mexico.
Then again, the UFC was able to book a hell of a replacement opponent for Fabricio Werdum in Mark Hunt, and an interim title fight between the two is probably the best thing us fans could ask for, all things considered. Late replacement main events are always a mixed bag, but before we start rioting, let’s all take a deep breath and try to remember a few last-minute headliners that actually worked out…
The Good
UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones
(This and all photos hereafter via Getty.)
That’s right, the event that marked the beginning of the end for light heavyweights with title aspirations was never meant to happen.
Having just ended the Machida Era™ at UFC 113 in stunning fashion, Mauricio Rua was actually scheduled to face Rashad Evans at UFC 128 until a knee injury forced the latter out of the contest. Rua, who had just had his own knee repaired following the Machida fight, was then matched up against a resurgent and likeable at the time contender named Jon Jones, who had unleashed an And-1 mixtape of asskicking on Ryan Bader just two events prior.
Although it was Rua who held the tremendous experience edge, it was Jones who would dominate the fight from start to finish. Flying knees, oblique kicks, and likely an eye poke or five from the challenger had Rua in defense mode until a particularly vicious knee put him away in the third round. Despite being called up to the biggest fight of his life on a month’s notice, Jones emerged a champion and sent a chilling message to the rest of the light heavyweight division.
That message: “Hey pussy, are you still there? None of you will ever defeat me.”
In a year that has seen nine pay-per-view headliners slip through the UFC’s fingers, Cain Velasquez’s injury and subsequent removal from UFC 180 might the biggest blow of them all (I hear a nasty tumble down a flight of stairs is to blame for all this). The TUF curse has now gone international, folks, and while I’m not prepared to start nailing the UFC’s coffin shut, I will say that the champ’s most recent injury has cast an ominous shadow over the UFC’s first trip to Mexico.
Then again, the UFC was able to book a hell of a replacement opponent for Fabricio Werdum in Mark Hunt, and an interim title fight between the two is probably the best thing us fans could ask for, all things considered. Late replacement main events are always a mixed bag, but before we start rioting, let’s all take a deep breath and try to remember a few last-minute headliners that actually worked out…
The Good
UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones
(This and all photos hereafter via Getty.)
That’s right, the event that marked the beginning of the end for light heavyweights with title aspirations was never meant to happen.
Having just ended the Machida Era™ at UFC 113 in stunning fashion, Mauricio Rua was actually scheduled to face Rashad Evans at UFC 128 until a knee injury forced the latter out of the contest. Rua, who had just had his own knee repaired following the Machida fight, was then matched up against a resurgent and likeable at the time contender named Jon Jones, who had unleashed an And-1 mixtape of asskicking on Ryan Bader just two events prior.
Although it was Rua who held the tremendous experience edge, it was Jones who would dominate the fight from start to finish. Flying knees, oblique kicks, and likely an eye poke or five from the challenger had Rua in defense mode until a particularly vicious knee put him away in the third round. Despite being called up to the biggest fight of his life on a month’s notice, Jones emerged a champion and sent a chilling message to the rest of the light heavyweight division.
That message: “Hey pussy, are you still there? None of you will ever defeat me.”
UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort
Every fan remembers where they were the day Greg Jackson killed MMA. Me, I was out on my lanai, sipping on a mango mojito and discussing the DOW with a few fellow aristocrats, when suddenly, my phone was aburst with talks from the Twittersphere of Dan Henderson tearing his ACL.
“This…cannot be,” I said under my breath (as not to alert my esteemed colleagues of my MMA fandom and risk losing their respect forevermore).
But alas, it had been, and Henderson’s injury was only the beginning. Shortly after the news of Henderson’s injury broke, the stateside hoodlum Chael Phinneus Sonnen stepped up and offered to fight Jones on 24 hours notice in his infinite bravery. After a quick consultation with master Jackson, Jones declined the fight, leading to the cancellation of the event and a firm tongue-lashing from his employer.
But still, the UFC was in spin mode. They needed their light heavyweight title fight to come to fruition and they needed it forthwith. They offered short-notice rematch opportunities to Mauricio Rua and Lyoto Machida, but were somehow denied on both occasions. That left only one brave soldier for the job: Vitor Belfort (pronounced like Stephen Colbert).
And indeed, Belfort put on a hell of a show at UFC 152, pardon my French — nearly securing an armbar victory early in the first round. But because Jon Jones is truly more machine than man, he overcame the early storm and submitted his foe with an Americana in the fourth.
From tragedy, the UFC was able to generate a small victory, 450,000 pay-per-view-buys, and $1.9 million dollars in live gate cash. It doesn’t get much more triumphant than that.
UFC 173: Barao vs. Dillashaw
UFC 173 was originally meant to house a middleweight title fight between Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort, until that damned TRT ban forced “The Phenom” to take a temporary leave from MMA. Weidman was then matched up against Lyoto Machida, and for a brief second there, UFC 177 ticketholders were able to breath a sigh of relief, the fools.
But then, as champions of the modern era so often do, Weidman went down with an injury (likely while rescuing a blind man from a fire), pushing his fight against Machida back to UFC 175 in July. Once again without a true main event, the UFC sought to pair bantamweight champion/PPV juggernaut (lol!) Renan Barao against top contender Raphael Assuncao. But theennnnn, it was revealed that Assuncao was still nursing a rib injury and would be unable to fight.
So what do you do in this situation? You throw TJ Dillashaw – who was scheduled to fight Takeya Mizugaki that night anyway – against Barao, have Goldie and Rogan yell about what a beast this fresh-faced Aryan youth actually is, and yadda yadda chalk this thing up as a loss. Just like that, you’ve got yourself UFC 177: F*ck It.
Barao came in as a ridiculous 10-1 favorite over Dillashaw, and most of us expected the fight to be over within a round, for Urijah Faber was the king of the Alpha Males and even he was smoked by Barao in their previous encounter. But oh, how we were wrong.
For five straight rounds, Dillashaw absolutely tooled Barao, utilizing a Cruz-esque offensive attack to keep a literal step ahead of the champ before finishing him with a head kick in the fifth. Just like that, the Barao Era™ had ended. While UFC 173 may not have been a financial success, its main event was one of the most thrilling in recent memory, and a reminder of just how great and unexpected our oft troubling sport can be.
Of course, more often than not, late replacement main events fall into two other categories, “Bad” and “Ugly”, so let’s gather our pitchforks and torches and look at a few prime examples…
Just six months ago, Renan Barao was on top of the world.
He wasn’t just the UFC’s bantamweight champion; he was one of the pound-for-pound best fighters on the planet. Dana White even went as far as to place him above Jon Jones on the pound-for-…
Just six months ago, RenanBarao was on top of the world.
He wasn’t just the UFC’s bantamweight champion; he was one of the pound-for-pound best fighters on the planet. Dana White even went as far as to place him above Jon Jones on the pound-for-pound list. Crazy, I know.
But after a dominant five-round performance against Urijah Faber, a submission victory against Michael McDonald, a “stop you in your tracks” spinning backheel kick to the face against Eddie Wineland and a first-round (albeit, a controversial one) TKO in his rematch against Faber, you can’t really blame the UFC president for trying to sell Barao to the people—he was the king and kings should be treated a certain way.
I’m a big RenanBarao fan. What don’t you love about RenanBarao? He finishes and he wrecks people. I still go back and forth with the ‘Jon Jones, RenanBarao‘ thing. I still, without a doubt, think RenanBarao is the No. 2-ranked (pound-for-pound fighter). After Jones’ last performance, he looked so damn good. And he just buzz-sawed through all the big names at 205. Even before that I was calling Barao the No. 1 pound-for-pound (fighter), but he is without a doubt the No. 2 pound-for-pound guy in the world. He goes in there, and no matter who he faces, he goes in there to finish them. I love guys that go in to annihilate people, and that’s what he does.
But that was then, and this is now.
Six months later and here we are: Five months removed from T.J. Dillashaw‘s crowning moment against Barao and just two months removed from Barao‘s weight-cutting debacle in his attempt to regain his former glory.
Barao managed to lose his title and pound-for-pound ranking after UFC 173. Even without stepping into the Octagon at UFC 177, he managed to lose two more things: His paycheck and White’s support.
“I see it as, first of all, you got enough money to get a real nutritionist to go in there and watch what you’re eating,” White said. “The guy’s gotta go in there and do it the right way or don’t cut weight, move up to 45. Don’t cut weight. It’s part of the sport, things are going to happen. Sucks when it does but it happens. … He won’t get a title fight after this.”
And true to his word White stayed: The former champ isn’t getting another shot at the belt in his first fight back. With Dominick Cruz’s comeback from injury and Raphael Assuncao‘s seven-fight winning streak alive and well, Barao‘s spot amongst the line of title contenders is blurred.
Instead of a title shot against the champion, Barao gets pegged to fight the UFC’s No. 15 bantamweight Mitch Gagnon.
The UFC’s No. 15 bantamweight.
It’s one thing to punish a guy like Barao by asking him to fight a top contender like, say, Assuncao before he’s allowed to think about the crown again. It’s a completely different thing to have him square off against a guy who just made it into the top 15 10 days ago.
Sure, Gagnon‘s four-fight winning streak has been impressive. With 11 of his 12 wins coming by way of submission (nine of which came in the first round, mind you), he’s easily one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners in the division.
But what’s the UFC to do with Barao if and when he gets past the surging submission artist?
Maybe they hope that No. 14 Joe Soto or No. 13 Erik Perez are available to compete in April. Or maybe, just maybe, they’ll start treating this guy like the former champion and top pound-for-pound fighter that he is by giving him an opponent that has any sort of semblance to the sort of competition he was obliterating in fights past.
Who knows, really. Maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Maybe this is UFC’s ploy to ensure Barao gets back into a title fight with Dillashaw while keeping him unscathed but ever-impressive against another “top contender.” Maybe they’re banking on the idea that Dillashaw‘s dominance carries over into a title fight with Cruz before they can start marketing for the reboot to the rematch that should have been.
But if there’s one thing we learned from Barao‘s experience, it’s that Jon Jones should be extra cautious in defending his title against Daniel Cormier in January or he might have to end up fighting Fabio Maldonado in his ensuing bout.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University’s student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
Faber is coming off his submission victory over Alex Caceres at UFC 175 in July, while Rivera most recently lost a decision to Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 173, snapping a two-fight win streak. I’m not exactly sure how this booking makes sense, but the opportunity to watch Faber strangle somebody just outside the top ten is the kind of gift that you don’t question.
Barao was supposed to rematch TJ Dillashaw at UFC 177, but then passed out during his weight cut, and was pulled from the event and publicly shamed. Barao will have a chance to redeem himself against Gagnon, a Canadian up-and-comer who has won his last four (although against a relatively low level of competition).
So: Easy wins for the big names, or do you smell an upset cookin’?
(Barao prepares to unleash another superuncomfortable victory celebration on poor, poor humanity. / Photo via Getty)
Faber is coming off his submission victory over Alex Caceres at UFC 175 in July, while Rivera most recently lost a decision to Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 173, snapping a two-fight win streak. I’m not exactly sure how this booking makes sense, but the opportunity to watch Faber strangle somebody just outside the top ten is the kind of gift that you don’t question.
Barao was supposed to rematch TJ Dillashaw at UFC 177, but then passed out during his weight cut, and was pulled from the event and publicly shamed. Barao will have a chance to redeem himself against Gagnon, a Canadian up-and-comer who has won his last four (although against a relatively low level of competition).
So: Easy wins for the big names, or do you smell an upset cookin’?
There was a lot of hype and expectation the last time Renan Barao‘s name was on a fight card.
