Fall From Grace: Renan Barao

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.