Renan Barao entered the octagon on Saturday for the main event of UFC 173 as an overwhelming favorite to defeat T.J. Dillashaw and win his 34th consecutive match. Dillashaw cracked him with an overhand right in Round 1, then nearly choked him out. After that, it was all Dillashaw until he finished Barao in Round 5.
The win was one of the most shocking victories in recent memory, and has emboldened Dillashaw to actually question whether Barao deserves a rematch right away.
"I have no problem fighting him again, but I feel like he shouldn't be getting an instant rematch the way he lost," Dillashaw said on MMAjunkie radio. "It would be different if maybe I'd have finished him in the first round with that choke and maybe people thought it was a fluke. But I beat him up for five rounds. I took it to him, and he had nothing for it."
While Dillashaw's performance was impressive, it's likely Barao will indeed get a fairly speedy chance to regain his title. Entering the fight, he was considered on par with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in terms of pound-for-pound rankings, with UFC president Dana White giving him the nod.
The new champ seems like he'd prefer to fight Raphael Assuncao though, who defeated him controversially in October 2013. "In my opinion, it [beating Barao] wasn't like a fluke thing.
"But ultimately, I don't really care - it's up to the boss man, and I'm going to be fighting whoever. If I could get my win back from Raphael that I thought I won ... Mizugaki's on a good run, too. And also Barao. Those are three good fights right there."
While the other names are intriguing, Barao is no doubt the biggest name. His coach, Andre Pederneiras, is talking about an immediate rematch and challenged Dillashaw to add an additional hurdle--facing Barao in Brazil.
"We're asking for an immediate rematch. It's fair, and we're looking a way to do it," Pederneiras said. "The ideal would be bringing this fight to Brazil. "There's going to be a big event here in Brazil, apparently in October in Rio de Janeiro. Let's see is these guys are man enough to fight Barao in his house."
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