Renan Barao: Why?
One of the most poorly timed utterings in UFC president Dana White’s career came in the run-up to UFC 173, when he said with a straight face that he considered then-bantamweight champion [autotag]Renan Barao[/autotag] the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
Barao went out and lost the title in a drubbing at T.J. Dillashaw’s hands in Las Vegas. That kicked off a 2-7 run in the UFC. Which includes four losses in a row. As well as two weight misses. And a rematch with Dillashaw scuttled due to a weight cut gone awry.
Unlike countryman and fellow former champion Rua, Barao (34-8 MMA, 9-7 UFC) straight-up looks like a shot fighter. Last time out, at UFC on ESPN 1, Barao managed to look like his old self for a round against Luke Sanders, then faded in the second and was brutally finished.
Still, he presses on, and this time the former champ is third from bottom on the card against Douglas Silva de Andrade (25-3 MMA, 3-3 UFC). We’re not sure why the UFC hasn’t cut him yet, but another loss here, and it should be time to cut the cord once and for all.
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