Rather than defend his UFC interim bantamweight title, Renan Barao is opting to sit out while linear champion Dominick Cruz recovers from injury.That’s the official word from Barao’s coach, Andre Pederneiras, who says that the interim champion sho…
Rather than defend his UFC interim bantamweight title, RenanBarao is opting to sit out while linear champion Dominick Cruz recovers from injury.
That’s the official word from Barao‘s coach, Andre Pederneiras, who says that the interim champion should be granted plenty of time to wait for Cruz. As reported by Bloody Elbow, Pederneiras argued his case during an interview with UOL (Latin America’s largest Portuguese online news network):
“[Barao] just won the title, he just fought. We will wait. ‘Look how long the wait was for Condit and GSP to unify the belt?”
Barao won the UFC Interim Bantamweight Championship in a title fight with Urijah Faber at UFC 149 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Faber was originally supposed to challenge Dominick Cruz for the lineal bantamweight title at UFC 148, but Cruz suffered an ACL injury during a training session on the set of The Ultimate Fighter: Live.
Barao was granted a spot as Cruz’s replacement on the strength of his 6-0 winning streak in the UFC and WEC, in addition to his 30-fight undefeated run dating back from May 2005.
UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre suffered a similar injury in December 2011, effectively sidelining him for most of this year. UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit choose not to defend his title during that time, citing a preference to wait for St. Pierre to recover.
Another week, another collection of valuable information put together to help all the new fans out there acquaint themselves with the names they vaguely recall hearing in that sport they kind of like. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Casual Fan’s …
Another week, another collection of valuable information put together to help all the new fans out there acquaint themselves with the names they vaguely recall hearing in that sport they kind of like. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Casual Fan’s Guide to the Bantamweight Division.
Here, you will learn about the past, present and future of the 135 pound fighters in and out of the UFC. The division does not have as long or storied a history as some of the bigger guys, but it is still a division ripe with talent and a bright future ahead of it.
While the division does not end up front-and-center often, it is still definitely worth learning about. So once again, ladies and gentlemen…
Faber fans were completely devastated at UFC 149 last weekend. Fans were wildly anticipating an amazing rubber match between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. After Cruz was injured, fans were then hoping Faber would dominate.
Faber fans were completely devastated at UFC 149 last weekend. Fans were wildly anticipating an amazing rubber match between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber. After Cruz was injured, fans were then hoping Faber would dominate Barao for the Interim Bantamweight Belt, so they could finally see who was the better of the two fighters who have had a bitter feud since WEC days. However, this may not happen for a while. Once again.
I personally was hoping Faber would beat Barao by unanimous decision. However, the outcome was the exact opposite. Now Faber must work his way through champion contendership fights, to get a change at the Bantamweight champion, be it Cruz, Barao, or a new fighter. After reviewing the fight, and reading comments, I discovered Urijah Faber had actually broken his rib in the first round. It is important to realize first of all Urijah was an excellent loser. He really was. This was his exact tweet:
“Congrats 2 @RenanBaraoUFC. He’s a tough dude. Broke my rib in the 1st with a great knee. Thank u 4 all the support.”
Clearly, if Faber had broken his rib in the first round, he would have to fight through 25 minutes with a broken rib. Seeing as he barely landed any punches, this could be why. He must have been in immense pain, but as a warrior tried to push through it throughout the fight. We don’t know if this broken rib is what caused Faber to lose the fight, but if so it is a consequence of fighting that must be accepted before entering the ring. Cruz and Faber fans can only hope that Cruz will keep his belt, and one day soon Cruz and Faber can finally determine the better fighter and settle their feud.
Over half of the 2012 MMA year has come and gone. We’ve crowned a new Lightweight Champion, two Interim Champions, seen our share of upsets, and the rise of new contenders.Five months of UFC events still remain and we’re guaranteed to crown a…
Over half of the 2012 MMA year has come and gone. We’ve crowned a new Lightweight Champion, two Interim Champions, seen our share of upsets, and the rise of new contenders.
Five months of UFC events still remain and we’re guaranteed to crown at least one new champion later this year.
On Jan. 1, 2013, when the clock strikes midnight, who will be the eight UFC champions?
Urijah Faber may have come up short in every sense of the word against Renan Barao last weekend, but fortunately for him, he received some sound advice from undisputed middleweight champion Chael Sonnen in the aftermath of his loss that will undoubtedly alter the course of his career from this day forward. As you recall, Sonnen became the first man in MMA History to defeat Anderson Silvatwice at UFC 148, when he straight-up embarrassed the now-retired “pound-for-pound great” by KO’ing him with a second round spinning backfist so spectacular that the WWE had to steal it to make one of their fights more entertaining and less gay and stuff.
Urijah Faber may have come up short in every sense of the word against Renan Barao last weekend, but fortunately for him, he received some sound advice from undisputed middleweight champion Chael Sonnen in the aftermath of his loss that will undoubtedly alter the course of his career from this day forward. As you recall, Sonnen became the first man in MMA History to defeat Anderson Silvatwice at UFC 148, when he straight-up embarrassed the now-retired “pound-for-pound great” by KO’ing him with a second round spinning backfist so spectacular that the WWE had to steal it to make one of their fights more entertaining and less gay and stuff.
With an unblemished record of 32-0, the closest Sonnen has ever been to tasting defeat was the time he was served a severely undercooked steak by “The Spider’s” wife after he defeated Silva the first time (by fifth round powerbomb at UFC 117). We know some of you cynics would like to chime in about how Faber is now 0-5 in his last 5 title fights, and that Sonnen’s advice is probably falling on deaf ears, but we beg to differ. Because Chael Sonnen does not speak to losers. He molds winners out of them, or creates them when they get in his way.
After battering and busting up Urijah Faber en route to his 29th straight victory, newly-crowned interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao proved to the world at UFC 149 that his win streak was the product of hard work and dedication, not the culmination of years spent crushing cans that seemed to be the case for a certain somebody making his long awaited debut just one fight before. This is not to say that Hector Lombard doesn’t push himself as a fighter — by all accounts he does the exact opposite, in fact — but to say that Lombard was the first fighter to come to the UFC on a huge win streak, only to have said streak invalidated almost immediately would be a bold faced lie (Jason Reinhardt, anyone? How about our buddy Sean McCorkle?).
But when guys who have spent years fighting below their level come up short on the big stage, it just makes it all the more impressive to see the Barao’s and Ryan Jimmo‘s of the world succeed in living up to their hype. Simply put, it’s no coincidence that most of the guys with the greatest win streaks in the sport are all champions, and the rest are either made up (I shall refer you to the infamous tale of Craig Rehage as my primary example) or busted as soon as the fighter faces some legit competition.
However, when trying to determine which champion has the most impressive win streak of them all, we surprisingly found ourselves at odds. Some of us went with the obvious choice in Anderson Silva, some of us thought that Jon Jones’ streak was more impressive, and ReX thought that Ronda Rousey’s run stood atop them all before snatching a copy of her ESPN magazine shoot and running off to our executive bathroom. He has yet to return.
So as is often the case when we are struggling to decide upon an issue, we will hand the power over to you, Potato Nation. After the jump, you will find a survey. The topic: “Which Current Champion Has the Greatest Win Streak in MMA?” You WILL vote on this poll, and you WILL leave us your convincing arguments in the comments section. Sound good?
After battering and busting up Urijah Faber en route to his 29th straight victory, newly-crowned interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao proved to the world at UFC 149 that his win streak was the product of hard work and dedication, not the culmination of years spent crushing cans that seemed to be the case for a certain somebody making his long awaited debut just one fight before. This is not to say that Hector Lombard doesn’t push himself as a fighter — by all accounts he does the exact opposite, in fact — but to say that Lombard was the first fighter to come to the UFC on a huge win streak, only to have said streak invalidated almost immediately would be a bold faced lie (Jason Reinhardt, anyone? How about our buddy Sean McCorkle?).
But when guys who have spent years fighting below their level come up short on the big stage, it just makes it all the more impressive to see the Barao’s and Ryan Jimmo‘s of the world succeed in living up to their hype. Simply put, it’s no coincidence that most of the guys with the greatest win streaks in the sport are all champions, and the rest are either made up (I shall refer you to the infamous tale of Craig Rehage as my primary example) or busted as soon as the fighter faces some legit competition.
However, when trying to determine which champion has the most impressive win streak of them all, we surprisingly found ourselves at odds. Some of us went with the obvious choice in Anderson Silva, some of us thought that Jon Jones’ streak was more impressive, and ReX thought that Ronda Rousey’s run stood atop them all before snatching a copy of her ESPN magazine shoot and running off to our executive bathroom. He has yet to return.
So as is often the case when we are struggling to decide upon an issue, we will hand the power over to you, Potato Nation. After the jump, you will find a survey. The topic: “Which Current Champion Has the Greatest Win Streak in MMA?” You WILL vote on this poll, and you WILL leave us your convincing arguments in the comments section. Sound good?
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
