Leading up to his rematch with Renan Barao this Saturday at UFC 177, bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw is not short of confidence, especially considering the beating he dished out to Barao in their first meeting.
Many thought Dillashaw would've been overmatched against Barao in their first fight in May at UFC 173. Barao was riding a 30-plus fight winning streak and hadn't suffered a loss in over nine years.
But Dillashaw dominated the fight from start to finish, knocking Barao down with a hard right hand in the first round and then finishing him in the fifth to claim the belt. Dillashaw thinks the rematch will be no different, and once he defeats Barao for the second time he'll knock him out of the title picture.
"It's a tough situation. After I beat him on Aug. 30, he's going to have a long road to try and get back to the title," Dillashaw told FOX Sports. "I think I'm going to expose him as a fighter in general and other fighters are going to take advantage of that."
Dillashaw initially didn't want to have an immediate rematch after winning the first bout so convincingly. But when the UFC made the call, he gladly accepted.
"While the win's still fresh in his mind and in my mind, I might as well do it again," he said. "I feel like I've got his number and I'm ready to put it on him and get him scared and he knows I'm going to beat him again."
Dillashaw believes he holds a psychological advantage over the former champion and that Barao's confidence is shaken after suffering the knockout loss.
"I guarantee he's thinking in the back of his head every day when he's training he doesn't want that a-- whooping to happen again. I'm going to put it on him and he's going to fold," Dillashaw said. "It's a huge psychological advantage for me. He took a beating and he took a lot of punishment to the head and I rocked him a bunch of times and I don't even know if he's had enough time to recover from that."
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