R. Assunção (left) beat current champion Dillashaw (right) in October 2013. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC
Raphael Assunção is still hopeful that he will be the next challenger for the UFC bantamweight belt, which currently belongs to TJ Dillashaw. The former champion's team, Renan Barao, trust that an immediate rematch will be given to the fighter, which also received the initial approval of Dana White, president of the UFC.
However, Assunção, who defeated Dillashaw in 2013, stated that a new fight against the American would have as much appeal as a rematch between Barão and the new champion. “It’s a fight that makes sense. Barão was the champion and became more popular in Brazil, but he is not as popular in the United States. I don’t think Dillashaw x Barão would be any different from Dillashaw x Assunção in terms of sales”, said Assunção, in an interview with the North American website “MMA Fighting”.
Despite his opinion, Assunção admitted that he already hopes that the choice will be made in favor of Barão. “I wasn’t confident they were going to give me a chance to fight for the title. Unfortunately, they will have to do an immediate rematch, which would be bad for me. I already defeated the champion and I deserve to fight for the title. It makes perfect sense."
Therefore, Assunção is already thinking about an alternative if the title fight does not happen. “I see several scenarios. If the fight with Dillashaw doesn't happen, I'll sit down with my team and study the possibilities.”
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