Fall From Grace: Renan Barao

Welcome to another edition of Fall from Grace. This week I’m looking at a Brazilian fighter who just three years ago was considered possibly the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, and is now struggling to gain any traction at all.

I’m talking about former UFC Bantamweight champion Renan Barao.

How on earth did Barao go from being one of the most feared fighters in the world to a fighter unranked in any weight class, almost a forgotten man in fact? In my opinion, there are a number of reasons, but to truly understand them you have to go back to the beginning.

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The Beginning

Like many Brazilian fighters, Renan do Nascimento Mota Pegado – given the nickname ‘Barao’ by his grandmother when he was a youngster – grew up in abject poverty. While more has been written about some of Barao’s fellow Brazilians struggling growing up, little has been truly said about the background of ‘The Baron’ other than that when he first arrived at Nova Uniao, the famed Brazilian MMA camp, he slept on a bed that was little more than a wooden board laid across bricks, and that he would go to bed early and get up late to shorten his days, meaning he could avoid having to pay for meals.

After training some boxing with his father at a very young age, Barao was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by a friend at the age of fourteen. Initially, he trained with Kimura Nova Uniao, an offshoot of the legendary stable that also contained notable MMA fighters such as Jussier Formiga and Ronny Markes. Once he began to dabble more and more in the world of MMA, his training began to move away from the Kimura team – situated in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte – and over to Rio de Janeiro, where he would train with Andre Pederneiras and the full Nova Uniao setup.

Barao turned professional in April 2005 and in his debut, he fought an unknown by the name of Joao Paulo Rodrigues and lost a unanimous decision.

It would be his only loss for some time.

Beginning with his second professional fight in May 2005, Barao put together one of the most impressive streaks in MMA history. 24 fights, 23 wins with one no contest caused when Barao’s opponent used an illegal soccer kick to daze him. While his list of victims contained mostly unknown fighters, he did pick up wins over future TUF Brazil stars Rony Jason and Anistavio ‘Gasparzinho’ Medeiros.

Even if his win streak was made up of victories over “butchers, bakers and candlestick makers”, as the legendary trash-talker Chael Sonnen once claimed, it’s still a huge achievement for anyone participating in a sport as unpredictable as MMA.

In January 2010, famed website Sherdog.com named the 135lber the top prospect in their list of ’10 Brazilians to watch out for’. Just a few months later, he was signed by the WEC.

The Streak Continues

Barao made his WEC Bantamweight debut in June 2010 to little fanfare with a third round armbar victory over fellow debutant Anthony Leone. It appeared that only hardcore fans cared about this Brazilian with his crazy win streak. Being one of those hardcores I remember complaining in my own review of WEC 49 that his fight – a preliminary fight – was not aired on Versus!

Another prelim victory followed a few months later, this time over future UFC Flyweight title challenger Chris Cariaso via first round rear naked choke. Although the fight again was not shown on television, this time it carried a little more weight – the show was WEC 53, the final one put on by the cult promotion, and the entire roster of fighters was to be moved over to the UFC.

Barao, now on a streak of 25 wins, was expected to do great things when he arrived in the Octagon. His first fight was signed for May 2011’s UFC 130, and it was against none other than future UFC Flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson. Anyone else think that sounds unbelievably intriguing in hindsight?

Of course, the fight never took place. A little higher on the card, Miguel Torres was set to face Brad Pickett, but when Pickett withdrew due to injury, Johnson stepped up to face Torres. In turn, former WEC Featherweight champ Cole Escovedo stepped in to face Barao and although it was a tough fight, he became the latest name on Barao’s list of victims.

Barao’s next fight would be the one that really put him on a path to the top.

UFC 138 was set to take place in Birmingham, England, and Barao was matched against the afore-mentioned Pickett, a British cult hero who was ranked in the top ten of the division. Although Barao had a lot of hype behind him, this one seemed like a tough fight. After all, England had seen a number of vaunted Brazilian prospects – Edilberto Crocota, Vinicius Queiroz – go down hard in the past.

Barao, though, was different. Known more at this stage for his slick ground game, he came out and fought fire with fire, standing toe-to-toe with the renowned striker Pickett as both men exchanged hellacious blows. Eventually, Barao stunned Pickett with a huge knee strike and followed with a flurry that dropped him. In the ensuing scramble, Barao leapt onto Pickett’s back and choked him out. It was the Brazilian’s biggest win to date, and in the co-main event of a high-profile UFC PPV to boot.

Another win over another ranked opponent – this time former title challenger Scott Jorgensen – followed at UFC 143 in February 2012, and then Barao was all set to face Ivan Menjivar at July’s UFC 148, when fate intervened.

All he does is win

At first, it was simply a rumour. The word was that UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz – who was set to defend his title at UFC 148 against long-time rival Urijah Faber – had blown out his knee and would be on the shelf for some time. In turn, the UFC would be setting up a fight for an interim Bantamweight title between Faber and the rising Brazilian Barao.

Cruz and Faber at that point were opposing coaches on TUF 15, the only season of the show to be broadcast in a live format. And on Episode 11, the rumour was made official as Dana White confirmed Cruz’s injury and brought out Barao for a staredown with Faber, cementing their clash at UFC 148.

Instead, the two would have to wait a little longer, three weeks to be exact. While UFC 148 was the card with all the hype – due to the Anderson Silva/Chael Sonnen rematch in the main event – UFC 149, taking place in Calgary, Alberta, was an injury-hit card that seemed to be changing more and more by the day. When Barao’s teammate Jose Aldo had to withdraw from his main event clash with Erik Koch, the UFC decided to move the Faber/Barao fight onto that show as the new headliner.

While the spotlight wasn’t on the fight as brightly as it would’ve been if it’d stayed on UFC 148, plenty of people were excited for Faber vs. Barao. It was Barao’s toughest test to date and although he had the crazy win streak, Faber had looked unstoppable at 135lbs outside of a close loss in 2011 to Cruz. Plus, someone put together this classic video to hype the fight.

It was expected to be a highly competitive fight, but it didn’t quite turn out like that. Instead, Barao used his striking game – namely his powerful leg kicks, a Nova Uniao staple – and stellar takedown defence to win a lopsided decision. It wasn’t the most entertaining fight but it didn’t matter. Only one year into his UFC career, Renan Barao was a champion.

The title reign

It would be seven months before we’d see Barao again. At first, the word was that the UFC were looking to put together a champion vs. champion match with Cruz to unify the Bantamweight titles, but with Cruz’s injury problems being worse than was initially hoped, the Brazilian was instead matched with up-and-comer Michael McDonald in Barao’s second fight in England.

The fight went Barao’s way as per usual, but Barao took some hard shots on the feet, being stunned badly by McDonald in the first round. He would outwork the American as the fight went on though and eventually put him away with an arm-triangle choke in the fourth.

Another interim title defence followed this time over former WEC champ Eddie Wineland. After losing the first round on most scorecards, Barao knocked Wineland out early in the second with a spinning heel kick to the head. It was one of the most spectacular knockouts in UFC history and it was at this point that Dana White christened him as possibly the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet.

For those counting, Barao was now at 31 wins without a defeat.

Going into 2014 the Cruz fight was again attempted, but yet again the longtime champ had to withdraw via injury. This time the UFC stripped him of the title and proclaimed Barao the undisputed champion. At UFC 169 rather than Cruz, he was faced with former foe Urijah Faber again.

This time the fight was even more one-sided and the California Kid was knocked out with a barrage of strikes late in the first round. Renan Barao was on top of the world and it seemed unthinkable that just one fight later, he’d be knocked firmly off his perch.

Downfall

Exactly how and why Barao ended up fighting TJ Dillashaw at UFC 173 is still a bit of a mystery. The fight was put together on relatively short notice to replace a cancelled Chris Weidman/Vitor Belfort showdown, and even more strangely, Dillashaw wasn’t the top contender – Raphael Assuncao, who’d beaten TJ a few months prior, was, but he was injured.

It felt like a thrown-together fight that was there purely to further cement Barao’s reputation as a monster. The trailer for the show even said so.

Dillashaw came in as one of the biggest underdog challengers in UFC history. And somehow he walked away from the show having pulled off one of the biggest upsets, too.

From the opening moments of the first round, it was clear; Dillashaw was much faster than Barao, somehow seeming like he was operating on a different time plane entirely. A crushing right hand dropped the champion in that round and although he survived to the buzzer, the story was already told.

Dillashaw dominated the fight and finally finished Barao off with a head kick and a barrage of strikes in the fifth round. Somehow, the aura of invincibility that had surrounded the Brazilian was blown to smithereens. Barao wasn’t a monster, he was just a man.

Downward spiral

As is customary when a dominant champion finally loses, the UFC booked an immediate rematch between Dillashaw and Barao even though it was clear that Barao had basically been outclassed. The fight would take place just three months after the initial meeting at August’s UFC 177.

It wasn’t to be.

It was right before the weigh-ins for the event that the UFC made the official announcement; Barao had been hospitalised as a result of his attempts to make 135lbs – a weight he’d made successfully eight times prior in the UFC alone – and was out of the fight, to be replaced by Joe Soto.

Later on, the story was revealed that Barao had collapsed when stepping out of an Epsom salt bath and had knocked himself out due to hitting his head on the way down. Suddenly, a man who had seemed absolutely unstoppable was coming across as anything but.

His title shot now lost, Barao next faced prospect Mitch Gagnon in December. He successfully made 135lbs but looked sluggish throughout the fight, a far cry from the dynamic fighter who’d torn Pickett and Faber apart. He won with a third round arm-triangle choke but it was his least impressive performance since the Escovedo fight in his UFC debut.

It was, however, enough to earn him another crack at Dillashaw. But their first meeting, as well as the poor performance in the Gagnon fight, was weighing heavy on people’s minds. This time TJ was the firm favourite and while Barao made weight, the fight was as one-sided in the American’s favour as the first one had been.

This time Dillashaw finished the Brazilian in the fourth round with a violent flurry of strikes.

Moving up

After almost a year away, last May saw the return of Renan Barao to UFC action. This time he would be fighting at 145lbs, putting his weight-cutting struggles behind him. Matched with perennial action fighter Jeremy Stephens, Barao promised that we’d see a new, rejuvenated Baron.

Sadly he was largely wrong.

Barao fought another listless fight. While he won the first round quite clearly, enjoying a speed advantage for the first time in what seemed like an age, the second round saw Stephens catch him with some hard shots. The tide seemed to turn from there and although the Brazilian was able to use his grappling in the third somewhat, it just wasn’t the Renan Barao of the 32-fight win streak.

Although some viewers – myself included, actually – felt that Barao deserved to pick up a decision, the judges went the other way and Stephens was awarded the victory.

In September, Barao was faced with Philippe Nover – a man much further down the totem pole – in his second bout at 145lbs. It looked like a match designed to allow Barao to bounce back, to get back on the winning track, and in that sense, it worked.

Barao picked up a unanimous decision win and indeed, the fight was largely one-sided. But in execution, this was more like the Gagnon or Stephens fight than anything else. The Brazilian did just about enough to outstrike and outgrapple Nover, but never really hurt him or came close to finishing him off. While Nover didn’t have enough in his arsenal to really bother Barao, it was clear from this that maybe Barao didn’t have enough left in his arsenal to move any further up the ladder, either.

He hasn’t fought since.

The ten-year theory

So what exactly caused the downfall of Renan Barao? It’s an odd one in that there didn’t seem to be any indications that it was about to happen prior to the first Dillashaw fight; Barao looked unstoppable until suddenly he wasn’t. And it can’t purely be that Dillashaw was so much better and just had the perfect style to beat him. That doesn’t explain the subsequent showings.

One theory I’ve come up with has to do with his time in MMA. Although Barao’s only 30 he has been fighting professionally since 2005, and he’s been at the top of the game since 2010. While often people point to advanced age as the point in which a fighter begins to slide, personally I’m not sure that I agree.

Take Randy Couture for instance – people marvelled when he was able to topple Tito Ortiz in 2004, as Randy was 40 years old at the time. However, at that point, he’d only been fighting professionally for seven years. Barao’s countryman Francisco Trinaldo is another example – at age 38 his recent seven-fight win streak seemed jaw-dropping – but Trinaldo has been fighting for ten years and only has 26 fights on his record.

Jordan Mein, on the other hand, is just 27. He’s recently returned from retirement but realistically, he’s looked past his best for a while now. He’s been fighting for eleven years and has a record of 29-11, so 40 professional fights. While he’s not as old chronologically as Trinaldo – or Couture when he was accomplishing miracles – in terms of fighting age he’s much further down the line.

Barao would fall into the same category as Mein. He’s relatively young in age, but in a fight sense, he’s much, much older. The first Dillashaw fight was his 34^th and he’d already been in the game nine years at that point.

The only time Barao was knocked out prior to his UFC career was by an illegal soccer kick

Ten years – give or take a little – seems to be the general timeframe and after that, most fighters begin to slide. If you fight with a particularly reckless style or train with a camp well-known for hard sparring, then that timeframe can be shortened even further.

Which leads me onto my next point...

Damage counts

While his gaudy record and amazing winning streak meant that at his peak, Barao was seen almost as invincible, the reality is that he was never a fighter who came away from his wins unscathed. While his two wins over Faber and his win over Jorgensen were largely one-sided affairs, the rest of his UFC victories were not.

Take the Pickett fight for example. While Barao came out on top eventually, that fight was a war. On a rewatch, in fact, you could make an argument that it was the strength of Barao’s chin that allowed him to win rather than anything else. Both men took sledgehammer blows – it was merely Pickett’s chin that cracked first and set up the fight-ending choke.

Likewise, the McDonald fight – Barao was badly hurt in a trade with ‘Mayday’ and it was only his veteran wiles that allowed him to stay calm under fire and eventually outwork his younger challenger. And while Eddie Wineland never had Barao truly hurt, he won the first round of their fight using cleaner striking.

The point I’m making is this – if Barao was willing to trade off with insanely heavy hitters like Pickett, McDonald and Wineland, could we be missing a big piece of the puzzle that is his downfall? While Chael Sonnen made the point that Barao’s win streak was built off the back of wins over largely unknowns, very little footage exists of those fights.

Could it be that despite fighting unknowns, Barao was still trading strikes and taking damage from them, even in victory? Judging by his largely reckless style in his early UFC career, I feel that the chance is pretty high that it was the case.

As the highlight shows, Barao was never afraid to throw down

Throw in the fact that Barao has trained for his whole career with Nova Uniao – a camp chock-full of top fighters, famous for hard sparring between teammates – and it could be that he’s simply taken a career’s worth of damage and can’t really take any more.

While moving up in weight may have helped him somewhat in a sense that he no longer needs to make a big weight cut, it may well be a bit of a smokescreen. After all, prior to the UFC 177 debacle, Barao had never missed weight, not even when he was fighting in foreign territory such as England.

The future?

While he was never the UFC’s most popular champion, at the time of his peak – from 2011 through to 2014 – Renan Barao was a truly fantastic fighter to watch, blending his striking and his grappling games seamlessly together as well as anyone in the UFC.

It’s unfortunate then that he may well end up being reduced to a footnote in the history of the Bantamweight division, and even worse that some fans will see him as a fighter who’s style was rendered obsolete by the more movement-oriented styles of Dillashaw, and then Cruz and Garbrandt in turn.

In reality, I don’t feel that is the case at all. Barao is simply an example of a very hard career with a reckless style catching up to the fighter and causing him to age overnight. Had the Barao of 2010 faced the Dillashaw of 2014 I think we may well have seen a different fight. But obviously, that wasn’t the case.

Where should Barao go from here? I’m honestly not sure. It seems harsh to wish retirement on someone of a comparatively young age, but MMA is a dangerous sport and having taken what is likely a career’s worth of damage, it may be best for his health if Barao simply steps away. But obviously it isn’t that easy – we don’t know his career earnings, whether he’s got enough set aside to support his family – and that’s not to mention whether he believes deep down that he can get back to the top of the mountain.

In the end, unfortunately, I think we’ve probably seen the best version of Renan Barao at this point. Could he prove me wrong? He’s definitely got the skills, but it’s just a question of whether a body broken down over years of professional MMA can ever put them to proper use again. We shall see.

Until next time.....

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