Renan Barao planning move up to featherweight
After falling twice to current UFC bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw, former champion Renan Barao (33-3 MMA, 8-2 UFC) has decided to move up to featherweight.
Although his friend and fellow training partner Jose Aldo has been the long time king of the 145-pound division, Barao plans to make the move by the end of the year.
Dillashaw shocked the world when he defeated Barao last year, then after a number of issues and injuries postponed the Barao-Dillashaw rematch, the two finally met for a second time at UFC on FOX 16 in July resulting in the American champ TKO’ing the Brazilian.
“It’s obviously his decision, but I think it would be a good idea to go up in weight,” White said after UFC on FOX 16. “He’s been having problems with the weight. He didn’t have problems (at weigh-ins) – he made the weight easy – but he looks really drawn out and dry when he cuts weight. So he should probably move up.”
