Last night in the main event of UFC 173 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, T.J. Dillashaw who was an 8 to 1 underdog going into the fight dethroned arguably one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao and he did it in a spectacular fashion.
Everybody thought the main event was so one sided, no one really gave Dillashaw a chance.
Dillashaw proved everybody wrong, and became the Undisputed Bantamweight Champion. He completely dominated Renan Barao in every way possible. His game plan going in was basically to attack from different angles and do many unexpected moves, and it worked perfectly.
Renan Barao's professional MMA record is now 34-2, 1 NC and is still considered a very great fighter.
Just over a year ago, Renan Barao who at the time was the interim-champion, was considering a move up to Featherweight (145 pounds). Meanwhile, training partner and current Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo was planning to move up to Lightweight to challenge at the time top contender Anthony Pettis to a super-fight.
The plans didn't work out and the fighters remained in their respected weight divisions.
One year later Aldo remains at the top of the 145lb division, but things didn't go well for Renan Barao.
There are no excuses for Barao losing to Dillashaw. Barao is a large 135 pounder who I think could easily fight 10 pounds heavier and have no problems, and possibly do better. I get the small feeling that Barao's large weight cut affected him more than usual. Even if this is the case, it's his fault for fighting in the wrong weight division.
No matter what, Barao is a large Bantam and could easily fight at Featherweight.
Now that he isn't the champion, he has nothing to lose moving up weight divisions. What I'm saying is when Barao returns, I think it would logically be best to be in the Featherweight division. 10 pounds less to cut, has to be healthier. Barao cuts a lot when he fights at 135 lbs.
No comments:
Post a Comment
To comment, you click "Name/URL" and just type in your name. You don't need a URL to comment. Or you can choose Anonymous, or if you are registered with another program like TypePad and Google, you can comment with your account there.