Trending News|July 28, 2015 10:16 EDT
UFC 2015 News: What’s Next for Dillashaw and Barao?
As spectacular as TJ Dillashaw's performance was when he took the UFC bantamweight title from Renan Barao back in May 2014, fans still weren't 100 percent sold on Dillashaw's greatness. On Sunday, everyone's looking to see where his spot is on the list of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world.
UFC on FOX 16 became a showcase for Dillashaw as he put in, some might say, an even better performance than his first fight with Barao, overwhelming the Brazilian with his movement and angles, before stopping him with a slew of combinations in the fourth round. And now that the question about Barao is definitively answered, the question is, who's next for the bantamweight dhampion?
"That's the biggest fight," Dillashaw said when asked about former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz. "That's what's going to make my name the biggest is fighting Cruz, as soon as he's able to come back.
Cruz is still out of commission after suffering his third ACL injury shortly after his UFC 178 return. The former WEC and UFC bantamweight champion has fought only once since October of 2011.
"He's a very elusive, high-paced fighter as well," Dillashaw added. "I just don't think he has the power behind his punches. I don't think he has a devastating threat that you can impose on someone. I see myself definitely winning the fight."
Meanwhile, for Barao, who went undefeated for nearly 10 years before running into Dillashaw, the future is much more uncertain.
UFC president Dana White has a suggestion: move up to featherweight.
"It's obviously his decision, but I think it would be a good idea to go up in weight," White said. "He's been having problems with the weight. He didn't have problems yesterday"”he made the weight easy. He looks really drawn out and dry when he cuts weight. He should probably move up."
Barao's struggles with cutting weight have been well-documented, the rematch between him and Dillashaw was supposed to happen last August, but had to be shelved after he passed out in the bathtub while trying to lose weight.
White added, "I don't know. It's weird. There's situations where a guy loses a fight a certain way, he's never the same again. It happened to Meldrick Taylor and a million other guys in boxing. It almost looks like that happened to Renan."