Renan Barao wants another shot at UFC title
BARUERI, SAO PAULO -- Former UFC bantamweight champ Renan Barao went more than nine years without a loss.
Now, after the most disappointing stretch of his career, the Brazilian is intent on revenge — and he'd happily give up his paycheck to make it happen.
"My goal is to fight for the belt no matter who has it," Barao told USA TODAY Sports. "But I do want to fight T.J. Dillashaw again, and I want to make that clear. I would face T.J. Dillashaw even for free if I had to."
Barao made his UFC debut in 2011 and quickly picked up three impressive wins, earning him a shot at mixed martial arts superstar Urijah Faber for the interim bantamweight title. After beating him, Barao defended the temporary title twice before then-champ Dominick Cruz's long injury absence forced UFC officials to strip him of the title, giving Barao full champion status.
Barao defended that belt once, beating Faber a second time, before Dillashaw pulled off a shocking fifth-round TKO in a bout he dominated from start to finish.
Widely considered one of the top fighters in the sport before the loss, Barao was granted an immediate rematch and in August was expected to face Dillashaw a second time. But the day before the scheduled fight, Barao passed out while cutting weight and was ruled out of the fight.
"It was definitely not the best year," said Barao, 27. "Unfortunately, life is not always the way we want it to be. We had a few setbacks, a few problems, and we're getting back into it and looking at all those things that happened. ... I was very sad in the beginning. But as an athlete, you've got to take that and move forward. My goal is to win a fight and get back to the belt."
Barao (32-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) returns to action in the co-main event of Saturday's UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Dollaway (Fox Sports 1, 8 p.m. ET) in Brazil. He faces Canadian submission artist Mitch Gagnon (12-2, 4-1), who is a huge underdog.
"He's not that well-known, but he's a tough guy," Barao said. "He's got a lot of submissions, and I know I've got to work hard to beat him."
With a win, Barao could find himself in position to challenge the winner of a Dillashaw vs. Cruz bout planned for early 2015. While Barao would happily challenge Cruz to regain the title, he'd prefer to face Dillashaw, a desire fueled by something Dillashaw said a few weeks ago. "My first thought when (Barao was forced out of the rematch) was he didn't want to fight me," Dillashaw said.
"I hope he's training, because we're going to fight each other soon," Barao said. "We're going to meet again in the near future, and it's going to be a brawl."
Saturday will be an important moment in Barao's career. Win impressively, and the pain of the last seven months could be quickly washed away. Lose, and the title path could be long for a man once touted by UFC President Dana White as the "best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet."
Barao says he'll come back stronger and tougher than ever. "I'm here to show everybody the results of my hard work and give everyone a good show," he said.
Morgan writes for MMAjunkie