T.J. Dillashaw shocked fans and experts alike Saturday with a one-sided beating that concluded with a TKO of Renan Barao late in their bantamweight title fight at UFC 173 on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Dillashaw not only overcame tremendous odds to avenge t…
T.J. Dillashaw shocked fans and experts alike Saturday with a one-sided beating that concluded with a TKO of Renan Barao late in their bantamweight title fight at UFC 173 on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Dillashaw not only overcame tremendous odds to avenge teammate and mentor Urijah Faber’s loss to Barao, he also became the first member of the Sacramento-based Team Alpha Male to win a UFC title.
Of the UFC’s nine champs, only Chris Weidman and Ronda Rousey can say they have less experience than Dillashaw, who has just 10 career wins, including six in the UFC.
His future’s not in question, but Dillashaw must now begin the arduous task of attempting to defend his belt in a deeply talented 135-pound division.
Here’s a glimpse at three matchups Dillashaw could entertain in the second half of 2014.
Back in April, Dana White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter (h/t 5thRound) to announce Dan Henderson vs. Daniel Cormier. The fight, originally slated for UFC 175, was going to be moved to UFC 173…oh, and it was now a top-contender bout. No, really…
Back in April, Dana White appeared on ESPN’s SportsCenter (h/t 5thRound) to announce Dan Henderson vs. Daniel Cormier. The fight, originally slated for UFC 175, was going to be moved to UFC 173…oh, and it was now a top-contender bout. No, really!
Literally minutes after Cormier tossed Henderson around in a way that was genuinely uncomfortable to watch, though? “Cormier should probably take another fight.” White first said it to Fox Sports 1 during their post-fight coverage, then reiterated the sentiment at the post-fight press conference.
BloodyElbow’s Brent Brookhouse summed up the situation nicely on Twitter:
I love MMA “Winner of Cormier/Hendo gets title shot!” 3 days ago: “…well, maybe not Hendo” last night: “…Cormier should take another fight”
— Brent Brookhouse (@brentbrookhouse) May 25, 2014
So what changed? Well, that’s obvious. The money came in.
From the get-go, we all knew that things had to align just so for Cormier and Henderson to even come close to a title shot. Jones was set to face Glover Teixeira at the time. Alexander Gustafsson was waiting in the wings for a highly anticipated rematch. If either of them beat Jones via anything but a five-round shellacking, there was no way a rematch wouldn’t (rightly) happen.
Even if things went perfectly, the winner of Cormier vs. Henderson was looking at a year’s worth of waiting for a potential title shot. That’s a long time to spend on the couch without a paycheck.
In short, this was never a top-contender bout. So why did it get labeled such by White?
Well, why else would you watch UFC 173? The UFC could never be bothered to actually commit time or effort to its bantamweight division. White’s near-comical insistence that Barao was the top pound-for-pound fighter in MMA was a band-aid for the fact that they couldn’t be bothered to build up contenders for Barao the way they built up the likes of Dan Hardy and ThiagoAlves for Georges St-Pierre.
Assigning an artificial importance to a compelling fight in one of the divisions Zuffa cares about is the best way, they figure, to get fans to buy the event. I mean, yeah, the word to describe that with would be “lie.” The legal term would be “false advertising.”
But once you hit that “Purchase” button on Ticketmaster or that final “OK” on your cable box, it isn’t their problem. It’s yours. It’s the latest example of the UFC’s long-running trend of trying to sucker fans into buying their products, and it’s one that fans are quickly becoming numb to.
Perhaps I’m being idealistic here, but let’s be real. The UFC attached this obviously fallacious importance on a legitimately compelling fight because they knew that RenanBarao can’t draw flies. Maybe, just maybe, fans have picked up on that fact and agree with the UFC when they subliminally announce his shows aren’t worth watching on their own.
The handful of pundits who believed T.J. Dillashaw would dethrone Renan Barao at UFC 173 certainly didn’t forecast a brutal TKO win from the Team Alpha Male standout Saturday in Las Vegas.
Regardless, a confident Dillashaw utilized his many tools…
The handful of pundits who believed T.J. Dillashaw would dethrone RenanBarao at UFC 173 certainly didn’t forecast a brutal TKO win from the Team Alpha Male standout Saturday in Las Vegas.
Regardless, a confident Dillashaw utilized his many tools, particularly his footwoork, speed and athleticism, to trump the seemingly unstoppable Barao in every facet of the game to become his team’s first UFC champ.
Although Dillashaw, a former NCAA Division 1 wrestler who entered the fight with just nine wins, failed to score a takedown for the first time since his UFC debut, he outstruck the streaking Barao, 169-68 and 140-64 in the significant strikes category.
Dillashaw landed 99 of 260 shots he threw to Barao‘s head, 17 of 21 to his body and 24 of 28 to his legs. He also scored on 19 of the 30 ground strikes he fired.
In contrast, Barao landed just 68 of 277 total strikes, including 64 of 273 in the significant strikes department. And despite the fact that he stuffed each of Dillashaw‘s three shots, Barao failed to muster a takedown or submission attempt.
In his post-fight interview with UFC commentator Joe Rogan, Dillashaw, the UFC’s fourth-ranked bantamweight heading into the fight, said Barao‘s reputation and resume brought the best out in him.
Barao‘s the best in the world in my eyes…you know what I mean? I’ve been looking up to the guy [and] I felt respect to get in the cage against him. He’s the best in the world and that’s what brought it out in me. That’s what brought the best out in me because I knew I was fighting the best. I had to bring my A-game to be the champion of the world, and it happened baby.
Dillashaw got off to the ideal start and landed 27 of 65 strikes in the opening round while absorbing just seven blows from Barao.
The second round proved the most tightly contested as DillashawoutstruckBarao, 28-20, all of which were significant strikes.
Dillashaw regained his steam in Round 3 and hit his mark with 39 of 78 strikes compared to Barao‘s 19 of 73.
In the last 7:26 of the bout, Dillashaw landed 75 strikes to Barao‘s 22, including 56-18 in the significant strikes category.
A battered but resilient Barao took all he could handle from a rabid Dillashaw in the fifth round before crumbling and getting saved from further punishment by referee Herb Dean.
The third-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC heading into the bout, Barao tasted defeat for the first time since his pro debut in 2005.
“It was really a tough fight. I have to congratulate him. Tonight was his night, but I’m coming back,” a humbled Barao said to Rogan.
Dillashaw last fell to Raphael Assuncao in a controversial split decision at UFC Fight Night 29 last October. Following that loss, Dillashaw has refined his game significantly under soon-to-be former coach Duane Ludwig.
The 28-year-old Dillashaw brought superior footwork, quickness and cardio to the table against Barao, and that remedy proved too much for the 27-year-old Brazilian.
Barao fell to 9-1 under the Zuffa,LLC umbrella, while Dillashaw improved to 6-2 in the UFC.
Renan Barao may not have his UFC bantamweight title, but he does have a few avenues to go back to getting it.
The Nova Uniao product is still one of the best bantamweights on the planet and was likely just as shocked as everyone else by the effectivene…
Renan Barao may not have his UFC bantamweight title, but he does have a few avenues to go back to getting it.
The Nova Uniao product is still one of the best bantamweights on the planet and was likely just as shocked as everyone else by the effectiveness of TJ Dillashaw on Saturday night.
Dillashaw landed a huge right hand early and it was all him from that point on. Even though Barao was thoroughly dominated at UFC 173, I don’t believe he needs a “let’s go back to the drawing board” type of talk.
This was simply a case of Dillashaw being the better fighter at UFC 173. We could be seeing the beginning of a great rivalry if Barao can bounce back in his next fight and make his way back to a title shot.
In a sport of upsets, Team Alpha Male stalwart T.J. Dillashaw secured his place in MMA upset history at UFC 173 on Saturday at the MGM’s Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Over seven years removed from Matt Serra’s upset win over George St-Pierre at UFC …
In a sport of upsets, Team Alpha Male stalwart T.J. Dillashaw secured his place in MMA upset history at UFC 173 on Saturday at the MGM’s Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Over seven years removed from Matt Serra’s upset win over George St-Pierre at UFC 69, Dillashaw seized his moment and TKO’d former longtime champ Renan Barao to score a monumental upset victory.
Dillashaw overcame overwhelming odds to defeat Barao, who hadn’t tasted defeat in 33 fights heading into the bout.
The win puts Dillashaw in an elite category of MMA fighters who pulled off remarkable upsets in recent memory.
Here’s a short list (which won’t include any classic shockers like Serra over St-Pierre or Maurice Smith over Mark Coleman) of some of the most memorable recent title-fight upsets.
Several top stars thrived on Saturday’s UFC 173 card, but two of the mainstream names faltered under the pressure of the pay-per-view main card.
Not only did mixed martial arts legend Dan Henderson get utterly dismantled by Daniel Cormier at the …
Several top stars thrived on Saturday’s UFC 173 card, but two of the mainstream names faltered under the pressure of the pay-per-view main card.
Not only did mixed martial arts legend Dan Henderson get utterly dismantled by Daniel Cormier at the PPV, but former bantamweight champion RenanBarao was also destroyed by underdog T.J. Dillashaw.
While Cormier and Dillashaw looked incredible, Henderson and Barao were thoroughly outclassed. Here are the fighters who struggled the most Saturday night.
RenanBarao
In one of the most shocking moments in a long time, relative unknown T.J. Dillashaw dominated the main event and beat RenanBarao via TKO to walk out of the Octagon with the UFC Bantamweight Championship.
While losing the championship was a serious blow, Barao also lost his incredible winning streak that encompassed 32 victories dating back to May 2005. The loss would have been easier to swallow if he was winning at times in the fight, but Dillashaw dominated from bell to bell.
As Stuart Scott of ESPN shared on Twitter, no one saw this coming:
After the fight, Barao kept his comments short and sweet, telling Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com that “It was a really tough fight. I have to congratulate him. I’m coming back.”
It looks like Barao has revenge on his mind already.
Whether he gets an immediate rematch or has to beat another bantamweight to earn his way back into the title scene—a 32-fight winning streak should earn him an instant rematch—this could be the wakeup call the fighter needed.
Complacency is something that affects many fighters, and Barao has now been given another reason to work even harder. If he wants to regain his title, he will have to earn it against one of the toughest fighters in the sport.
Dan Henderson
Few fighters have made the impact on the sport that Dan Henderson has over his career, but at 43 years old (he’ll be 44 by his next bout), there is no doubt that the end of the road is near.
Daniel Cormier is one of the most promising talents in MMA, but Henderson used to be known as one of the best wrestlers in the sport. After being manhandled by Cormier on the ground, Henderson’s one biggest strength besides his toughness was nullified.
As WWE legend “Stone Cold” Steve Austin shared on Twitter, Cormier was able to beat a bona fide legend on Saturday night:
When Henderson can’t outwrestle someone, the fighter must take a long look at his time in the Octagon and make the decision on whether or not he wants to risk absorbing more long-term damage by continuing to fight.
Besides the knockout victory over Mauricio Rua in March (Rua looked like a shell of himself), Henderson has now lost four of his last five fights. While he may still be a PPV draw for Dana White and the UFC, the company must do what’s best for the fighter and encourage retirement.
Cormier proved that he was worthy of fighting for the light heavyweight championship, but he also proved that Henderson’s long and storied MMA career should come to an end sooner rather than later.
Back in April,