Tag: Renan Barao

UFC 173: Renan Barao’s Experience Will Earn Him Decisive Win over TJ Dillashaw

TJ Dillashaw may have bitten off a bit more than he can chew, as he prepares to enter the Octagon against Renan Barao for UFC 173’s main event.
Barao may be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet—even if he doesn’t quite receive a…

TJ Dillashaw may have bitten off a bit more than he can chew, as he prepares to enter the Octagon against Renan Barao for UFC 173‘s main event.

Barao may be one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet—even if he doesn’t quite receive as many headlines of others, such as Jon Jones.

With a 34-1 record—his lone blemish coming when he was an 18-year-old rookie—Barao‘s dominance has been wildly visible.

Mike Chiappetta of Fox Sports tweeted a vivid example of how long it’s been since Barao lost:

Barao hasn’t seen a fight come to a decision since his first bout with Urijah Faber in 2012. Since then, he’s recorded a round-four submission against Michael McDonald, a round-two technical knockout against Eddie Wineland and a round-one technical knockout against Faber.

Need a refresher? Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan commented on Barao‘s win following UFC 169:

This fight was a perfect example of how Barao‘s experience came into play.

Keeping a good distance from Faber, he felt his way inside with a jab and immediately saw an opening in his opponent’s defenses. What followed was an absolutely brutal right hand, which staggered Faber.

Barao took full advantage of his dazed opponent, taking him to the ground and pummeling him with a barrage of punches until the fight was stopped.

Barao‘s abilities as a striker will prove to be a daunting task for Dillashaw to overcome.

A solid wrestler and accurate striker, Dillashaw won’t back down from Barao; however, that may be his undoing.

As Dillashaw attempts to get close enough for a takedown, he puts himself in harm’s way, as Barao has the accuracy, intelligence and strength to deliver a decisive blow, which could end the fight immediately.

Bleacher Report’s Duane Finley sums it up perfectly with this tweet:

What Dillashaw must accomplish over the course of the fight is to get Barao moving backward and avoid a constant onslaught of punches. This is certainly easier said than done, as Barao has a bevy of techniques at his disposal to counter anything Dillashaw throws his way.

Should Dillashaw decide to stand up to Barao, he’s capable of doing some damage. Here’s a look at some of his greatest moments, courtesy of a tweet from Dana White:

During an interview with Brett Okamoto of ESPN.com, Dillashaw spoke of his strategy coming into the fight:

There is definitely positives and negatives to it. I’ve studied this opponent more than any other I’ve had because Urijah fought him. I don’t want to get too much into thinking, though. I want to have a reaction when I’m out there.

When I’m not thinking, I’m a faster athlete. If you start trying to think about what he’s going to do, it slows you down. I just want to have fun once I step in there and prove everyone wrong.

He’s certainly done his homework; however, it all comes down to experience.

While Dillashaw is a talented fighter, he simply isn’t refined enough to counter Barao‘s superior fighting style.

Dealing with Barao is one thing for Dillashaw, but the pressure of a title fight only adds to the odds being stacked against him in a big way.

Dillashaw has the ability to contend with Barao, but he’s not ready just yet.

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UFC 173: Keys to Victory for Renan Barao

It’s not really a secret that UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao is a justified favorite in his UFC 173 headliner against TJ Dillashaw this weekend.
Barao has been smashing the best of the best at the 135-pound class for a while now, while Dillashaw…

It’s not really a secret that UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao is a justified favorite in his UFC 173 headliner against TJ Dillashaw this weekend.

Barao has been smashing the best of the best at the 135-pound class for a while now, while Dillashaw is a high-ceiling prospect being given a title shot entirely too soon.

If this fight were to happen in 2016, there would be some serious doubt as to who would win. The fact is, it’s happening in 2014, and there’s a good chance it’s not going to need championship rounds for the Brazilian to retain his title.

Still, Barao‘s got to get there. They don’t just give you your belt for showing up at the venue. You’ve got to go out and win the fight, and in a sport as radically unpredictable and intensely volatile as MMA, nothing is guaranteed.

Dillashaw is absolutely not some stiff, and it’s going to take some mighty careful stepping from Barao to avoid being upset. There are two main parts to that equation: don’t get lost in Dillashaw‘s movement, and don’t let him outwrestle you.

Dillashaw is frenetic in the cage, moreso than the champion and perhaps moreso than anyone who’s challenged him to date. He’s bouncing and hopping from the first bell to the last, usually only stopping long enough to set up a combination or a shot. From there, he’s on his bike again until the next attack.

More than one of his opponents have been thrown off by that movement, as it’s a unique look for an Alpha Male fighter and for a fighter in general. If Barao falls into that trap, Dillashaw has the striking prowess to hurt him should he see an opening.

The other component of a successful title defense for Barao is to avoid a wrestling match with Dillashaw—something he’s historically had no issues with. Coming from Nova Uniao and with considerable grappling experience, taking Barao down is much akin to wrestling a greased pig in an oil slick. It’s just not that easy to do.

Still, it’s important for the champion not to slip up in that area. It’s the one clear-cut advantage for the challenger, and if he scores takedowns and succeeds with ground control, he’ll rack up points early and force Barao to fight from behind.

At the end of the day, however, this is Barao‘s fight to lose. The keys to victory aren’t a secret to anyone, and that includes both he and his challenger.

Anything can happen when the cage door closes, but anything other than a champion leaving Las Vegas with his title intact would be a total stunner.

 

Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder! 

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Renan Barao Might Be the Best MMA Fighter You May Have Never Heard Of

In the 20-plus years since UFC 1 introduced the world to mixed martial arts, only three have been able to string together a nearly innumerable 30-plus-fight win streak.
The first, Igor “Ice Cold” Vovchanchyn, a hard-nosed Ukrainian beloved by hardcore …

In the 20-plus years since UFC 1 introduced the world to mixed martial arts, only three have been able to string together a nearly innumerable 30-plus-fight win streak.

The first, Igor “Ice Cold” Vovchanchyn, a hard-nosed Ukrainian beloved by hardcore fans. He racked up knockouts from Russia to Brazil to Japan; most notably making the Pride Grand Prix 2000 finals.

The second, Travis Fulton, amassed a career record of 250–49–10. Though the rotund heavyweight fought mostly for no-name organizations in the Midwest, “The Ironman” did compete inside the Octagon on two occasions. Something of an anomaly in his own right.

Finally, Renan Barao, fighting this weekend at UFC 173. A live-wire wrecking ball inside the cage, he’s more soft-spoken outside of it. He is the UFC’s bantamweight champion. There is a good chance you may have never heard of him, or know little beyond the fact that he wields one of the UFC’s belts.

There are at least a few reasons why one of the best MMA fighters on the planet remains a relative unknown, especially to those in the United States, far and away the biggest consumer of UFC content.

For starters, Barao is Brazilian.

He does not speak English and uses a translator for interviews. Even the great Anderson Silva, also Brazilian, took years to fully establish himself as a pay-per-view star. At this week’s UFC 173 media day, Barao, the 27-year old with a 32-1 record, spoke about moving Stateside. It would seem the black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu realizes he needs to make a move—literally—in order to grow his fanbase.

Beyond the language barrier, Barao tips the scales, on weigh-in day, at a redoubtable 135 pounds. Or, roughly half of what a heavyweight like Brock Lesnar would weigh in at. Lesnar, on several occasions, would cut down to the 265-pound limit only to enter the cage on fight night well over that mark.

In MMA, size, it would appear, matters to its fans—and even more so than in its cousin combat sport of boxing.

While boxing’s flagship division was, for the longest time, heavyweight, (in boxing, heavyweight starts at 200 pounds and goes up from there) the smaller weight classes have done quite well for themselves.

The biggest stars in boxing right now—Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao—usually compete at the 145-pound mark, give or take a few pounds. In MMA, 145 pounds puts you as a featherweight, one weight class up from Barao’s bantamweight home.

While lighter-weight boxers like Mayweather have headlined pay-per-views that did well over one million buys and beyond, in MMA, only the heavier-weight-class fighters can boast something similar. The buy rates when lower-weight-class fighters headline a PPV woefully pale in comparison.

Combine being a stranger in a strange land with a stature that most MMA fans simply haven’t gravitated toward, and it leaves a lot to be desired for fighters like Barao, or his training partner Jose Aldo, who is champion in the aforementioned featherweight division.

And that’s a shame.

While bigger fighters like Brock Lesnar—or Jon Jones, champ at light heavyweight—are certainly worth their weight in gold, it is the smaller fighters who are often more skilled technicians that can fight for days on end without looking much worse for wear (something their heavier counterparts can’t routinely brag about).

Another knock on smaller-weight-class fighters is that they cannot finish a fight. While the notion that smaller fighters don’t finish fights is a fallacy—sure their finish rate is lower than it is with heavyweights—it would be especially off base with Barao.

He’s stopped his foes with techniques ranging from an arm-triangle choke to spinning back kick and punches.

He can knock you out. He can take you down and submit you. And no one can seem to stop him.

At UFC 173, upstart TJ Dillashaw will attempt to stop that unstoppable force.

Dillashaw is actually one year older than Barao, but carries into the cage with him a modest 9-2 record. Vegas does not like his chances. As of two days ago, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas had him as plus-550 underdog; the champ at a whopping minus-850 favorite:

If Barao does go on to successfully defend his belt, it would be the fourth time in a row he’s done so. It would put him in some pretty good company—head and shoulders with some of the legends of this youngish sport. 

Should you get the opportunity—be it at a bar, on a friend’s couch or via post-fight video highlights—check out bantamweight champ Renan Barao this weekend.

It may feel weird going out of your way to view a fighter you may have barely heard of until recently.

But if the young champ’s trajectory continues to chart on its current course, you may get to see one of the all-time great finishers in action on his way to becoming one of the first true stars south of 155 pounds.

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Is Being the UFC’s Toughest Bantamweight Enough to Make Renan Barao a PPV Draw?

Saturday night marks the first time the UFC bantamweight championship will headline a pay-per-view event without the presence of Urijah Faber.
It’s tempting to cast UFC 173 as an important moment for the 135-pound division, as champion Renan Bara…

Saturday night marks the first time the UFC bantamweight championship will headline a pay-per-view event without the presence of Urijah Faber.

It’s tempting to cast UFC 173 as an important moment for the 135-pound division, as champion Renan Barao spreads his wings and attempts to take off on his own.

During the days leading up to the event, much has been made about his fitness as a leading man. The two previous times Barao has headlined PPVs (both of them against Faber), the response was lukewarm, with UFC 149 collecting an estimated 230,000 buys in July of 2012 and UFC 169 garnering the same amount four months ago. Without The California Kid and against underdog replacement opponent T.J. Dillashaw, this will be our first real chance to see how Barao can do on his own.

Will fans open their wallets for the diminutive champion with the 70 percent finishing rate and slinky victory dance? The answer could be important, since it seems like he’s going to be here for a while.

We already know UFC president Dana White is all in. He’s been copiously singing Barao’s praises on social media all week, even awarding the 27-year-old Brazilian the top spot on his highly malleable, personal pound-for-pound rankings. That’s got be be a nice honor, however fleeting.

“I am absolutely, 100 percent sold on Renan Barao,” White said during the opening scene of a recent video blog. “I think he’s the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, and if you don’t believe it by his fights, look at the stats, look at the numbers. It’s unbelievable.”

Barao’s numbers are indeed Ruthian, even if his stature is more Eddie Gaedel. He hasn’t lost a fight after his first professional appearance in 2005, and the fact that he’s run off 32 consecutive victories is mindboggling, especially in a sport where everybody who’s anybody loses eventually. His advanced metrics—White lauds his “significant strikes per minute” in the above vid—are enough to make fantasy baseball nerds check his availability in their 5×5 roto dynasty leagues.

“On paper, Barao should be a superstar,” wrote MMA Junkie’s Ben Fowlkes this week. “His unbeaten streak is legitimately impressive, even if the first few years of it came against regional nobodies … But if Barao’s struggle to go big time tells us anything, it might be that skill doesn’t sell as much as we’d like to pretend it does. Not by itself, anyway. Not if it comes wrapped up in the package of a 135-pound fighter who doesn’t speak much English, doesn’t have much in the way of an identifiable personality, and – let’s just be real here – looks a little bit goofy.”

Hard to argue with that. Barao has been UFC champion for nearly two years now (dropping the “interim” tag back in January) and hasn’t yet blossomed into much of a draw. Some of that slow start could be blamed on the fact he never got to prove his dominance by taking on former champ Dominick Cruz, but surely the rest of it must be a question of size.

Little guys have yet to find their stride on MMA’s biggest show, at least in terms of drawing power. Since coming over from the WEC in 2011, the six PPVs headlined by UFC feather and bantamweight champions have averaged just over 250,000 buys. In other words, they haven’t exactly lit the world on fire.

Surefire superstar Jose Aldo has underwhelmed, trading the ostentatious knockouts of his WEC run for a more staid technical brilliance and four decisions during his first six Octagon appearances. Cruz has mostly been a nonfactor due to injury, and Faber has struggled to find a place after going 0-3 in UFC title chances.

Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson has exclusively been a TV attraction since winning the title at UFC 152 (where he played second fiddle to Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort). He’ll get his first chance to main event a PPV in June at UFC 174, but expectations aren’t any higher for that event’s chances than they are for UFC 173 this weekend.

It’s clear the lighter weight classes have thus far had difficulty getting big numbers of MMA fans to buy in. That’s a shame, considering they put on more dependably exciting fights than arguably any other weight class. But so long as they continue to toil under a lack of overall depth and name recognition, as well as the public’s apparent reluctance to pay to watch small men do work, even the best fighters there will continue to lag behind their larger counterparts.

It seems unfair to expect Barao to be any different. He may be the bantamweight champion, but he’s still a bantamweight. Until he builds a title streak of Anderson Silva-esque proportions or gets dragged into a blood feud with some 135-pounder channeling Chael Sonnen, he probably won’t draw money like a bigger champion, let alone an all-time, No. 1 pound-for-pound great.

Does that mean a lot of penny-pinching fight fans are going to miss out on one of the UFC’s more interesting developing title reigns? Yep, but that’s not really a Renan Barao problem. It’s a much weightier issue than that.

Until the lightest weight divisions read like finished products, their champions—however great—will continue to draw like works in progress.

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UFC 173 Weigh-in Results: Renan Barao vs. TJ Dillashaw Fight Card

The UFC returns to Las Vegas for UFC 173, and the event will be headlined by a bantamweight title clash between champion Renan Barao and No. 4-ranked TJ Dillashaw.
Also in action, Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier battle it out in a light heavyweight ti…

The UFC returns to Las Vegas for UFC 173, and the event will be headlined by a bantamweight title clash between champion Renan Barao and No. 4-ranked TJ Dillashaw.

Also in action, Dan Henderson and Daniel Cormier battle it out in a light heavyweight title eliminator, and No. 1-ranked welterweight contender Robbie Lawler battles No. 5-ranked Jake Ellenberger.

UFC 173 Weigh-In Results

  • UFC Bantamweight Championship: Renan Barao (135) vs. TJ Dillashaw (135)
  • Daniel Cormier (205) vs. Dan Henderson (199)
  • Robbie Lawler (171) vs. Jake Ellenberger (171)
  • Takeya Mizugaki (135) vs. Francisco Rivera (135)
  • Jamie Varner (155) vs. James Krause (156)
  • Michael Chiesa (156) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (155)
  • Tony Ferguson (155) vs. Katsunori Kikuno (155)
  • Chris Holdsworth (135) vs. Chico Camus (135)
  • Al Iaquinta (155) vs. Mitch Clarke (155)
  • Anthony Njokuani (155) vs. Vinc Pichel (155)
  • Sam Sicilia (146) vs. Aaron Phillips (145)
  • David Michaud (171) vs. Li JingLiang (170)

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Renan Barao Talks TJ Dillashaw and Superfight with Jose Aldo

Renan Barao would rather wait his turn in the chilled shadow of Jose Aldo than step into the cage with someone he looks to as a brother.
The UFC bantamweight champ is without a doubt the most underappreciated champion in MMA history. His résum&e…

Renan Barao would rather wait his turn in the chilled shadow of Jose Aldo than step into the cage with someone he looks to as a brother.

The UFC bantamweight champ is without a doubt the most underappreciated champion in MMA history. His résumé speaks for itself—undefeated for nearly a decade with 22 straight wins. These are feats comparable to heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko.

At only 27 years old, Barao really does have the entire world in the palm of his hands.

“I just keep working hard, practicing a lot, practice a little bit of everything,” Barao said through a translator in a phone interview with Bleacher Report. “Just be prepared for everything. That’s the way I always try to see things.”

Barao’s transcendental abilities haven’t changed a selflessness and humbleness that only few have the pleasure of knowing. During the UFC Fight Night 40 media scrum, UFC president Dana White said that “without a doubt” Barao is the No. 2 ranked best pound-for-pound fighter in the world behind Jon Jones.

When asked if he disagreed, Barao explained that more work needed to be done on his part, and instead, he tipped his hat to UFC featherweight champ and fellow Nova União member Jose Aldo.

“I’m happy just doing my job and my best. Maybe in the future Dana will call me No. 1,” he said. “For me, definitely Jose Aldo [is the best fighter in the world]. He’s the most complete fighter, and I train with him every day. I think he’s the best.”

With six UFC title defenses under his belt, Aldo is right behind Jon Jones in a bid to tie or surpass Anderson Silva’s legendary record for 10 successful title defenses. The featherweight division has shown the propensity to churn out new contenders, but thus far, all have been effortlessly swallowed by Aldo’s greatness.

The same could soon be said about Barao, a young phenom with three consecutive title defenses already under his belt. White’s reasoning for placing him ahead of Aldo in the pound-for-pound rankings is performance-based only.

Like Silva, Barao has a flair for finishing opponents inside the Octagon in devastating fashion. He may not command the same kind of following as other UFC champions, but you would be hard-pressed to find a more exciting fighter than Barao.

With that said, things can become stale in a hurry for MMA fans.

Murmurings of potential superfights generally creep up two or three title defenses into a champion’s reign. The top pound-for-pound fighter in the world could be Aldo or Barao, and the two are only separated by a division. It’s a convenience that hasn’t been realized since Silva and Georges St-Pierre’s run as UFC champions.

Unfortunately, it appears that the closest we’ll ever get to seeing Barao compete against Aldo is at the Nova União training center. If White calls for a superfight, Barao leaves no opening for negotiation.

“Me and Aldo are like brothers, and it’s not gonna happen,” he said.

Instead of superfights, Barao is solely focused on defending his UFC title against TJ Dillashaw in the main event of UFC 173.

Team Alpha Male’s Dillashaw, who is serving as a replacement for the injured Raphael Assuncao, boasts a supreme confidence that he will be the man to oust Barao. During an interview with MMAWeekly, he claimed that he intends to shock the world the same way Chris Weidman did when he defeated Anderson Silva for the UFC title.

Talk is cheap for Barao, who fully intends on reminding the world why he is the best at 135 pounds.

“Everyone thinks in a certain way. TJ can speak whatever he wants,” Barao said. “He’s been speaking a lot lately about that. I’m just waiting for the day of the fight, and then I’ll enter the Octagon and prove TJ wrong.”

While Barao respects Dillashaw as an opponent, he honestly believes Assuncao would have been a tougher opponent. The Brazilian was coming off a split-decision win over Dillashaw, but his opportunity at the title was forfeited after suffering an injury in training camp.

“Yes [Assuncao would have been a tougher matchup],” Barao said. “He was the guy who fight [TJ]. He earned the right to have a title shot [by winning] five or six straight fights in the division, but he hurt himself and the opportunity was given to Dillashaw.”

All will be revealed when Barao finally steps into the cage with Dillashaw at UFC 173 on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Barao expects a “great fight” against a “really tough opponent.” If things go his way, fans might even get treated to a new post-fight celebratory dance.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but it’ll definitely be a surprise,” he said.

 

Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

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