That has always been an issue. Barao's greatness was partly due to he fact that he went through this grueling weight cut every time for his buddy Aldo. It IS a factor but the Barao that we knew always had this in the package. It wasn't something new this time around.
Only Barao knows how much of a factor it really was. Personally, I think there was something off from the very beggining of the fight. And then that knockdown which was basically a flash ko took all air out of his sails. All credit to TJ. I am confident , however' that he will beat TJ in a rematch.