Stephens (left) beat Barão (right) by knockout. Photo: Brandon Magnus/UFC
Renan Barao He was defeated in his debut as a featherweight against Jeremy Stephens, but drew praise from the North American. Before the fight, Stephens was betting on a “mentally broken” Barão, but after the fight he not only praised the Brazilian’s resilience but also his physical preparation for the fight.
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“I take back what I said before. Barão took a lot of hard hits today. But I think I broke him mentally in there today because I made him give up. My plan was to put pressure on, look for the knockout, but not only did he have the necessary physical preparation, he hit me with good shots, and I kept going forward. I thought I would knock him out, to be honest. He is tough, he is a great champion, he has a great chin and I know he will come back stronger and do a lot of damage in the future”, said Stephens, at the press conference after the event.
To exemplify his point of view, Jeremy cited the way Barão recovered and resisted, even after suffering two knockouts in the bantamweight title fights. “TJ Dillashaw, another great former champion, dominated Barão. He managed to go up, but without being attacked by him. TJ used a lot of technique and broke him. Barão had two full training camps and yet TJ managed to knock him out twice. I hit much harder, but I couldn't knock him out. This just shows what a true champion Barão is,” he concluded.
With the triumph over Renan Barao, Jeremy Stephens now he has a professional record of 25 wins and 12 losses. The American also improved his recent record to two wins in his last three fights. Barão, who has two losses and one win in his recent appearances, has a record of 33 wins, four losses and one fight without result.
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