Dillashaw (photo) celebrates victory over R. Barão with the belt. Photo: USA Today
TJ Dillashaw He's barely won the UFC bantamweight title and is already thinking about his first title defense. After surprising the world by dominating Renan Barao at UFC 173, on the 24th, the North American believes that his next commitment should be against another Brazilian, Raphael Assunção.
Dillashaw and Assunção already faced each other, in October last year, at UFC Barueri. After three tight rounds, the Brazilian was named the winner in a split decision by the judges, which caused some controversy in the MMA community.
In an interview with The MMA Hour podcast, Dillashaw hopes to avenge the loss in his first title defense. "Probably. He has the longest winning streak and should be next in line. I want to be able to do this fight again”, commented the American, who stated that he would be open to other opponents if the UFC deems it necessary.
“But it could be him, Takeya Mizugaki, a rematch with Barão… Any fight makes sense. The problem I have with doing the rematch with Barão is that I dominated him. It wasn't a lucky break that I got in the first round. I’m too fast for him, he’s too slow”, he assessed.
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Dillashaw's trainer believes that Barão does not deserve an immediate rematch
Raphael Assunção: 'I don't want to belittle the Baron; but I deserve to fight for the belt'
Dillashaw considers that his mentality for the fight with Barão was fundamental to his victory. “After the fight with Mike Easton, I gained a lot of confidence in my movement, with the things I did in that fight. The first fight where I was really relaxed was with Mike Easton, when I let things flow, connecting the sequences I wanted. I trained a strategy with Duane [Ludwig, coach], but I had other things in mind, being fast, moving well. I was having fun,” he opined. “Now that I know how well I can perform when I'm relaxed and having fun, I have to maintain my level in every fight.”
Last Saturday's fight also represented Ludwig's farewell to Team Alpha Male. According to Dillashaw, the victory and winning the belt – the academy's first – was the perfect goodbye for the coach. “It sucks. I've known for a while that Duane was leaving, he wants to go home to be with his family. I will really miss training with him, but Saturday's fight represented a great end to our story. I didn't want to win the title just for myself, but for him too”, said Dillashaw, who intends to continue training sporadically with Ludwig, including counting on the coach to be in his corner.
With the victory over Barão, Dillashaw became the seventh North American currently holding a UFC belt – the only one outside the group is the Brazilian José Aldo, featherweight champion. Dillashaw also started to appear in the weight-for-pound rankings, in 11th place, three behind Barão, in eighth.
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