What Happened to Renan Barao?
For a while, it looked as though Renan Barao was indomitable. The reigning bantamweight champion on a 32 fight unbeaten streak across nine years that saw him capture and defend an interim championship title twice before being promoted to the undisputed king had many, including UFC president Dana White, branding him as the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Coming into his second title defence at UFC 173 against the relatively unknown TJ Dillashaw, it was expected that The Baron would put away his foe easily and remain on his quest for legendary status. And yet, the events that played out couldn’t have been further from what was predicted. Smothered for four rounds before finally succumbing to a head kick and ensuing punches, the mighty champion lay defeated. From there, Barao would lose seven of his next nine fights including a rematch with Dillashaw where he was once again knocked out, ending his career on a desperate five-fight losing streak. Was it simply a case of the talented Dillashaw cracking the code and setting a blueprint for all of Barao’s future opponents to follow? Did the beating the Brazilain took in his title loss damage his durability for life? Or is something deeper to blame?
Ironically, Renan Barao lost his first fight in professional MMA. A three-round unanimous decision in April of 2005 at Brazilian regional promotion Heat FC saw the then 18-year-old outstruck and made to look like a fighter of his years. But, that would be the last time Barao tasted defeat in the cage for some time as a victory in his next fight precipitated the rise of one of the greatest MMA fighters of a generation. In January 2010, after racking up 22 straight wins on the Brazilian regional circuit, Sherdog named Barao as their top prospect in their list of “10 Brazilians to watch out for in 2010” and, sure enough just months later, he would be signed by the WEC to make his debut in the American big leagues. In his promotional debut, Barao was booked to face the 8–0 Anthony Leone, a silver medalist in Pan-American No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and student of the legendary B.J Penn. Barao was the aggressor in the first round, blasting inside leg kicks and neutralising Leone’s takedown attempts despite the American’s wrestling pedigree. Leone got some flurries off in the second but dealt no real damage to Barao who continued to maintain a strong grappling position. In the third and final round, during a grappling situation on the canvas, a down-on-the-cards Leone shot for a hail mary kimura and Barao, ever the patient practitioner of BJJ reversed the position with lightning precision and flipped his opponent over. In mere seconds, Leone’s arm was trapped between Barao’s knees and being extended across the Brazilian’s chest. The American tapped instantly.
Barao would enjoy just one more fight with the WEC, a third-round rear-naked choke finish of Chris Cariaso before the promotion was absorbed into the UFC. Barao was expected to make his debut in May of 2011 at UFC 130 against WEC mainstay and future flyweight GOAT, Demetrious Johnson however an undisclosed injury pulled Brad Pickett from his bout with Miguel Torres and DJ was moved to that fight, Barao had to make do with inaugural WEC featherweight champion, Cole Escovedo. The first round was close with Barao utilising his signature grappling prowess to evade punches and control Escovedo against the fence. Several times, he successfully took Cole down and landed some harsh elbows on the ground. Early in the second, Renan ran directly into a right hand that crumpled him but he managed to sprawl cleanly and recover, taking his opponent down once more. Barao abandoned the position and went back to stalking Cole around the cage, managing to keep him on the outside nicely. He took Escovedo down once more and was dominating with some heavy ground and pound but Steve Mazzagatti stood the action up, arguably prematurely. Barao unloaded in the third. Having tired his contestant out in the first ten minutes, The Baron began striking, landing spinning back fists and a couple of front kicks, showcasing the work he had been doing with Jose Aldo and Nova Uniao. Throwing a couple of flying knees that missed the mark, Barao plumped for his signature takedown and executed it perfectly. Cole tried to stand in the final seconds and Barao slammed him to the mat as the bell chimed. He took all three rounds of two of the judges’ scorecards. Between that victory and his next fight with Brad Pickett at UFC 138, Andre Pederneiras awarded Barao with his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt.
Having beaten Pickett and Scott Jorgensen, Barao was expected to face Ivan Menjivar in a bout to determine the number one bantamweight contender however, since incumbent champion Dominick Cruz was sidelined, an interim title bout was arranged with former WEC champion Uriah Faber. Although it may not have been the most enthralling performance for either fighter, Barao convincingly stopped each of Faber’s takedown attempts, frustrating the California Kid to seal the unanimous decision. He may not have finished his opponent but the sheer joy of becoming a UFC champion was palpable. As fate would have it though, the newly minted Barao would have his opportunity to unify his title in a bout with Dominick Cruz struck off as the undisputed champion was sidelined once again with a second crippling ACL injury; his timeframe for recovery, 6–9 months. Nevertheless, the interim bantamweight king acted like a true champion by accepting a defence of his belt against Michael McDonald in February 2013. At this point, it was Barao’s toughest challenge in the UFC as it was apparent in the first two rounds that McDonald had done his research. His takedown defence was near watertight and he capitalised with strong boxing. Barao could dance with him though and boxed his own game, mixing in knees and kicks that wore McDonald out. Compounding this, Barao found success with his signature takedowns. In the fourth round, Barao took McDonald down. The challenger attempted to explode to his feet and was caught by Barao who expertly passed into side control and secured the arm-triangle choke, forcing the tap. With Cruz still out in September of 2013 and Barao still wanting to fight, an unprecedented bout was scheduled; the second defence of his interim title against Brad Pickett at UFC 165. Never had a fighter defended a UFC interim belt twice until the second round when Barao connected with a spinning back kick and follow up punches that forced the referee to step in.
Once again, Renan Barao was booked against Dominick Cruz at UFC 169 in a unification bout however, on January 6th 2014, Dana White announced Cruz had torn his groin and, as a result, had been stripped of the 135lb belt. Barao was thus promoted to the undisputed champion in his stead. Stepping in for Cruz as the first challenger to Barao’s newly unified belt was Uriah Faber, making it their second meeting. The fight was closely contested with Faber feeling Barao out on the feet while the champion circled and kept his opponent at distance. Faber charged and was cracked with a right hand that dropped him. Staggering to his feet, he was met with a hail of follow-up shots that went unanswered. Herb Dean stepped in and stopped the fight in the first round. Faber contested the stoppage however it was difficult to regard it as anything but inevitable. Despite his defeat, the closing remark from the Team Alpha Male challenger to the spectators in the arena and those watching at home was that his teammate, one TJ Dillashaw, had been training for a title fight and that he was ready. Faber called for the UFC to give the next shot at the bantamweight belt to TJ. The bout was booked to headline UFC 173 in May 2014.
The betting line closed with the reigning champion as a -800 favourite, Dillashaw a +500 underdog. Indeed, Dillashaw had won five of his last six, besting all his opponents aside from #2 ranked Rafael Assuncao; no shameful defeat. In fact, many MMA websites including Bleacher Report advised users to ‘avoid this fight’ suggesting that ‘Barao has shown the ability to thwart the style that Dillashaw will bring into the cage. Barao is one of the largest favourites on the card because this seems like a one-sided fight on paper. The list of fighters who can challenge him at 135 is very short, and Dillashaw is not on it.’ But when the lights went down in the MGM Grand Arena, what ensued was almost beyond comprehension. Dillashaw hung back and blocked some kicks from Barao before sinking an uppercut and an overhand right that dropped the champion. TJ pounced and Herb Dean was looking closely as Barao was in worlds of trouble early. Sauntering, Dillashaw attempted a no-hook rear-naked choke to finish the round. Those watching were stunned as the dominant pound-for-pound fighter was being schooled by a kid from Sacramento to whom no one gave a chance. Barao took a breath in round two and came out swinging well. He connected and bloodied Dillashaw who replied with shots of his own. After a low blow from the champion, Dillashaw finished strongly and edged the second round on 2 of 3 judge’s scorecards. Round three saw the challenger nipping counterpunches at will while Barao appeared to tire. Fewer and fewer of his shots seemed to hurt TJ. Several exchanges later and Dillashaw pinned Barao against the fence landing a barrage of knees to end the round. Now cruising and ahead on all the cards, Dillashaw began to wrestle, using his grappling to set up elbows and punches in the clinch. Barao’s face began to gloom with concern. He looked worried as he ate a combination and ended up in half guard with elbows raining down as the horn went for the end of the championship round. But it was in the fifth and final round with TJ bouncing as dainty on his weightless feet as he was before the opening bell when several carefully selected shots including a head kick dropped Barao again and the champion was finished with strikes. The bantamweight king and pound for pound legend had fallen, his nine-year win streak snapped and his belt prised away in one night in Las Vegas.
An immediate rematch was set to go down at UFC 177 however, on the day of the weigh-ins, Barao had to be admitted to hospital due to complications with his weight cut. His condition forced him off the card and he was replaced by UFC debutant Joe Soto who gave Dillashaw a competitive fight but was ultimately knocked out in the fifth. Barao would eventually make his return at UFC Fight Night 58 against Canadian submission artist, Mitch Gagnon. Barao looked like his old self again, controlling the action before finishing the fight by arm-triangle choke in the third round. The showing won him performance of the night honours. However, his next test would see him face his boogeyman as The Baron was granted an opportunity to win the belt back against the very man that took it from him. Headlining UFC on Fox 16 was Barao’s opportunity to make a statement, a chance to avenge his only UFC loss and silence some critics in the process. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, it was not an opportunity he took. In a near-identical fight to their first encounter, the challenger had nothing for Dillashaw who capped off a dominant performance with a TKO stoppage 35 seconds into the fourth round.
The Dillashaw rematch proved to be a watershed in the career of Renan Barao. With an MMA record of 33–3 and a title to his name, he was still firmly ranked in the top 10 of the bantamweight division and could well have made another assault on glory. Only he didn’t choose to. Just under a year later, Barao accepted a fight against Jeremy Stevens that would serve as the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 88 in Las Vegas. Stevens was a veteran of the game and stylistically, a good adversary for Barao; a typical striker versus grappler match-up. The strange thing was, Barao moved up in weight for the bout, bumping up to his opponent’s featherweight class of 145lbs. Now Barao had fought at ’45 before in Brazil but not for over six years. It seemed a strange choice considering his unparalleled success at bantamweight. In a gritty Fight of the Night show, Jeremy Stevens forced the former 135lbs king into a slugfest that went the fully scheduled three rounds. Despite all the judges agreeing he had found some success, Stevens took the fight 29–28 by unanimous decision. Facing a two-fight losing streak for the first time in his career and having absorbed a vast amount of damage across his fights with both Dillashaw and Stevens, Barao was in the wilderness. He remained at featherweight and won his next fight by unanimous decision. While this evened up his record for his last four outings, it can’t be said that his opponent, Phillipe Nover was a tough challenge. Coming into the bout with 18 pro fights’ worth of experience to Barao’s 39 and a record of 11–6–1 with his most notable win coming in the form of UD against Darrell Horcher three years prior, it could be said that Nover was a gimme for Barao coming off a loss and fighting in front of his home crowd in Brasilia. After the Nover fight, Renan “The Baron” Barao never won in MMA again.
Having lost on 4 times in his career until that point, Barao dropped five fights in a row all but one of them in gruelling contests that went the brutal distance. Future Bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling defeated him by UD, Brian Kelleher, the same. One judge thought Barao had beaten Andre Ewell alas, only one of three. 12–3 rising star Luke Sanders knocked him out cold in round two of their contest in 2019; this time, Barao was on the wrong end of a performance of the night. Finally, after Douglas Silva de Andrade pummeled him for three rounds in Sao Paulo, with one judge even scoring a 10–8 against him, Barao hung up his gloves. So how exactly does a young fighter on a 22 fight positive streak claim victories over former champions, make history by risking his titles just for the love of fighting and clean out his weight class only to lose it all in the space of five years? Many theorise that Barao’s fate was sealed after his inaugural UFC loss to TJ Dillashaw. Never had he taken so much damage in a fight up to that point, never was he forced away from his grappling-heavy style to such an extent. Dillashaw turned up that night and, with no pressure on him, established himself early, used his footwork well and fought a clever fight. At the end of the first round, the champion looked shocked, as if he wasn’t sure how to do what he had been doing so effortlessly for over a decade. Barao was caught out, lost his confidence that night and never got it back. In my opinion, it wasn’t about damage. The Brazilian could still take a beating late in his career; five of his nine fights since losing the belt went this distance. It was about psychology. The fighter’s mentality. Renan Barao had not lost for almost 10 years in MMA. He wasn’t a Michael Bisping type champion, whose ascent was peppered with setbacks that could serve as learning curves. When faced with a fundamental deconstruction such as that which TJ Dillashaw administered, Barao could not compute his own shortcomings or learn how to address them. He thought that the solution was to abandoned 135lbs and seek success up at featherweight. Many fighters move weight class, it isn’t uncommon but Barao could not seem to focus on where he wanted to fight. During his final five bouts, Barao missed weight on three occasions, each time weighing in at between 138–141.75lbs. This, to me, is a clear sign that the athlete could not decide if he would like to fight at bantamweight or at featherweight. This lack of focus cost him dearly and, sadly, we may have never got the chance to see Renan Barao reach the very peak of his potential.
Max Pleasance
