Barão (photo) faces Dillashaw again on August 30th. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
In May of this year, Renan Barao an undefeated streak that had already lasted 33 fights and almost ten years was interrupted when he was defeated in an unappealable way by the North American TJ Dillashaw. On August 30th, Barão has the chance to regain the belt lost to Dillashaw in the rematch scheduled for UFC 177. Speaking about his preparation for the duel, the former champion said that he did not think about rebuilding his game for the confrontation and revealed that he hopes to knock out his opponent, but said he is prepared if the fight lasts the scheduled five rounds.
“I'm not trying to reinvent myself. I've had to add things to my game, but that's not a case of reinventing myself. I've never trained so much. I've been training five or six hours a day and I've never trained as much for a fight as I have now. My only objective today is to take back the belt. I'm very focused and I hope to bring this title back to Brazil. I’m 100% focused and I hope to get the knockout, but I’ll be ready for five rounds if I need to,” said Barão, in an interview with the “MMA Junkie” website.
Furthermore, Renan also spoke about favoritism, which was on his side in the first fight, but has now been transferred to Dillashaw. “I'm the underdog now and he's the big favorite. I think this is natural, as he had a great fight. TJ fought very well against me and that's the only reason why things changed”, said the Brazilian, who also expressed his willingness to fight at his opponent's home, in Sacramento (USA). “When we step into the Octagon, it's going to be just me and him, so there's no problem fighting in Sacramento or anywhere else. I'm training hard to face him. If the UFC wanted it to be in Sacramento, that’s no problem,” he concluded.
On September 30th, at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento (USA), Renan Barao tries to regain the bantamweight belt against his recent tormentor TJ Dillashaw. The duel is the main fight of UFC 177. In the co-main event of the night, North American Danny Castillo seeks his second consecutive victory against his compatriot Tony Ferguson.
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