What happened to Renan Barao?

he was always overrated to begin with.
at the time, there was no real interesting fighters in the division so dana and joe rogan had to manufacture one
 
He slowed a little and that's cost him.

It's not like he is uncompetitive, hes had moments in all his fights except vs TJ (who is the only one to ever finish him).
 
KramerFtw said:
he was always overrated to begin with.
at the time, there was no real interesting fighters in the division so dana and joe rogan had to manufacture one
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You may not have rated how good he is but he was certainly interesting to watch. Always going for the kill.
 
039_Barao_and_Dillashaw.0.jpg


This thing happened to him.
 
Lighter weight fighters also don’t age as well. Your reflexes and then speed are the first things that diminish as you get old. Those generally begin to decline in your late 20s
 
Wow, his losing streak happened right around when USADA testing started.

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Mileage plus killing himself to make 135. And probably his confidence went to shit.
 
KramerFtw said:
he was always overrated to begin with.
at the time, there was no real interesting fighters in the division so dana and joe rogan had to manufacture one
Click to expand...

He was good enough to beat Faber twice in non-competitive fights. You don't go from that to losing to Andre Ewell without a massive decline.
 
34 fights by age 27 (!) + Absurd weight cut + USADA (maybe) + much deeper talent pool

Honorable mention to speed/reflexes naturally decreasing and perhaps psychological issues after losing badly twice in a row.
 
Danis_champ said:
looking at his old fights before TJ the guy was never that good. he was the champ then Cruz was injured. He had good jits, speed and spinning back kick that's about it.
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His win streak of Pickett, Jorgensen, Faber, Mayday, Wineland, and Faber was very impressive. He was definitely the second best if not the best, because he never fought Cruz, in the division. Nobody gave one fight win streak Dillashaw a chance.
 
He had a lot of fights, was cutting a fair amount of weight, and the damage caught up with him (really vs TJ).

This is not a shocking or rare scenario.
 
TJ broke him. Maybe weight cutting assisted.
 
djason1988 said:
He was an absolute monster. Went 32-1 until his first fight with TJ, then went 2-5 after (including his rematch). And he's not old by any means, 31. That's considered prime for most MMA fighters. Did TJ just take his soul, or was there some serious flaw in his game that got exposed?
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Every fighters prime comes at a different time. and id like to think a large part is confindence. After the TJ fights, he hasnt looked like the same guy in the cage. Takes wayy less chances, scared to brawl, more grappling oriented fight approach, and to be honest less cardio. Id say USADA had a part but alot is confidence
 
djason1988 said:
He was an absolute monster. Went 32-1 until his first fight with TJ, then went 2-5 after (including his rematch). And he's not old by any means, 31. That's considered prime for most MMA fighters. Did TJ just take his soul, or was there some serious flaw in his game that got exposed?
Click to expand...
The Snake twisted the dancing brazallian Barao
lrPJY9l.png

Then The Messenger sent the truth
Snake went swinging like the gold around his neck

n7JpuZ2.gif
 
djason1988 said:
He was an absolute monster. Went 32-1 until his first fight with TJ, then went 2-5 after (including his rematch). And he's not old by any means, 31. That's considered prime for most MMA fighters. Did TJ just take his soul, or was there some serious flaw in his game that got exposed?
Click to expand...
I think that it is a combination of various factors.

He was unbeaten, but fighting (for a long time) lesser competition. That made him a little complacent.
His was too big. Had serious hard time making weight.
The fight was supposed to be against Assuncao (TJ did not even deserve the title shot at that time). I don't know if this made Barao even more overconfident.
He was unbeaten for so long, his loss to TJ broke him mentally.
UFC rushed for a rematch... IMHO that was a mistake. He ended up not making weight.
He fought Gagnon, and it showed he was not confident. His win did NOT gave me any confidence he would be (mentally) prepared for TJ.
His rematch finished him mentally. Now he was second guessing himself.
That's while the sport and the UFC fighters evolved and caught up with him...

IMO it is a mix of the above.
 
USADA
plus didn't he slip on a banana peel and break his head in the sauna lol
 
It's not so much about the age as it is the mileage

He's 'only' in his early 30s but he started fighting professionally as a teenager.

Khabib is one year younger but started fighting 3 years later. And I don't know much about Barao's first few opponents but Khabib had about 10 fights against dudes making their pro debuts.
 
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