Renan Barao wants to fight T.J. Dillashaw in Brazil.
You can't blame a fighter for seeking a home-court advantage, and Brazil offers just such a thing. Tune in to any of the multiple UFC cards held in various Brazilian towns, and you'll see local fighters experiencing plenty of success. I can't explain why they're so successful, and I don't have the metrics in front of me to prove it. But there's no doubt Brazilians get a boost when they're fighting in front of their countrymen.
Of course, this probably applies to other parts of the world too, including the United States. It's just more pronounced in Brazil.
So Barao would like to fight Dillashaw again, and he'd like to do it in Brazil. The first time Barao faced Dillashaw, it was in Las Vegas, and Dillashaw battered the then-champion Barao before finishing him in the final round and taking his belt.
And of course, Barao inexplicably got an immediate rematch against Dillashaw.
Barao didn't get the rematch because he deserved it. He didn't get it because he'd been an enduring champion who held his title for years, like Anderson Silva. He didn't get the rematch because the fight with Dillashaw was close or because it ended in controversial fashion. No, Barao got the rematch because the UFC had spent a lot of money building him up as the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, and it couldn't let that go to waste.
So Barao got the rematch, and then he tried to cut too much weight. He passed out and had to go to the hospital. He was removed from the title fight and replaced by Joe Soto. It was an embarrassing moment for Barao, for the UFC and for the sport as a whole.
To recap, a quick glance at the scorecard between Dillashaw and Barao: Dillashaw has a dominant win over Barao, and Barao has a weight-cut failure that forced him out of the rematch.
With all of that taken into considered, you'd think Barao would be a little more humble. But you'd be wrong. Here's what he told Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting.com about Dillashaw not wanting to fight him in Brazil:
"I think he would crap his pants. Fighting in the United States is easy. I want to see him fighting me in Brazil. It’s completely different."
Here's the part of Barao's quote that sticks out to me: "Fighting in the United States is easy."
Again, Barao was dominated in his first fight against Dillashaw. He didn't even make it to the Octagon the second time around because he couldn't properly manage a weight cut.
Perhaps fighting in the United States is not so easy after all?
Dillashaw is talking too much crap. If we fight again, you can be sure it will be completely different. When we fight again, he will see the real champion. I don’t like to make jokes, talk trash. I like to show my work inside the cage, show the best Renan Barao possible. (Dillashaw) can enjoy that belt for now, because it’s coming back to Brazil soon.
I don't know how much crap Dillashaw is talking. What I do know is that Barao had his opportunity to fight Dillashaw again, and it was completely different.
And by completely different, I mean he passed out during a tough weight cut and went to the hospital and was replaced by a preliminary-level fighter making his UFC debut, thereby ruining a pay-per-view because he wanted to cut too much weight.
Should Dillashaw have to fight Barao in Brazil?
And it's not as though Barao is jumping right back into another title shot. He's scheduled to face Mitch Gagnon on December 20; Dillashaw will likely defend the belt against Dominick Cruz in early 2015. If both men escape from those fights unscathed, there's no reason to think they won't face off again. Barao will get his shot.
But he's in no position to make demands of Dillashaw, or the UFC. There is a very good chance that when Barao and Dillashaw—whether it's for UFC gold or not—meet again, it will happen on American soil, and Barao will have to grin and bear it.
Because that's the sort of thing that happens when you are no longer the champ, and when your inability to make weight causes a pay-per-view main event to fall by the wayside. You lose your negotiating power, and you have to fight to get it back.
