Renan Barao's first fight with T.J. Dillashaw did not go nearly as well as he'd hoped, as he was thoroughly dominated before being TKO'd in the fifth round. But the former UFC Bantamweight Champion thinks the rematch on August 30 at UFC 177 will be different.
The fighters had a little less than eight weeks to train for the first fight and Barao thinks the shortened camp was a major factor in his first loss since 2005. While the gap between the announcement of the rematch and the actual fight will be the about the same amount of time, Barao had been coming from vacation before his camp started for the first fight. After recovering from the loss he might've immediately went back into training, which could be why he's more confident this time around.
"For this fight I had the ideal time, I think that my camp couldn't be better," Barao told Bloody Elbow. "I'm more focused, I had more time to be ready. I've changed some details in my preparation but my goal will be the same, to go forward. I'll look for the finish as I always do."
In the first fight Dillashaw caught Barao with a clean right hand that knocked him down in the first round, a blow that Barao later admitted made the rest of the fight a blur.
"I think that the fight would be completely different, I started to fight in the auto pilot mode after that blow," Barao said. "I surely was out of it. Between rounds I was asking who was winning, I couldn't follow the commands of my coach, Dede Pederneiras."
Fighting as the title challenger for the first time in over two years, Barao said he doesn't feel different from when he was the champion and said he hasn't made any changes in his training for the rematch.
"I'm facing this bout like any other of my career, with a lot of will to win," he said. "I'm going forward to bring the fight to him and get back what is mine, the belt and the champion spot."
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