UFC 149: Faber vs Barao- My view

July 21st 2012, the UFC stepped into new territory at the Scotiabank Saddledome- Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

It was an event that was supposed to witness the rubber match between current UFC bantamweight champion, Dominick Cruz, and the highly popular "California Kid" Urijah Faber, who had recently just coached the 2 teams in the latest series of The Ultimate Fighter. Fate would intervene, however, with Cruz forced into withdrawing from his title defence due to injury, and Dana White felt it was neccesary to replace the bout with an interim title fight, and replace Cruz with highly touted Brazilian, Renan Barao.

Leading into the fight, I kind of felt sorry for Faber. In my opinion, Barao is a much tougher contest than what Cruz would have been- Faber has defeated Cruz once before and did stagger him more than once in the loss to him- and when I watched the interviews with Faber, I wasn't convinced with the confidence he was trying to portray. I wouldn't go so far as to say Faber appeared scared of the Brazilian- mainly because I fear if he ever somehow stumbled across this, he would hunt me down and show me the true meaning of fear- but I did get the impression that even Faber was unsure of how he would defeat the young Barao, which unfortunately for "The California Kid", was the general consensus among MMA fans, including myself.

Reason for this pessimism, being, that since his first MMA fight that resulted in a loss, Renan Barao had since gone 28 fights undefeated, and had looked a solid mixed martial artist ever since gaining superior exposure in the WEC and now the UFC. He is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt, has a number of KO victories on his record and is still only 25 years old!

Faber on the other hand, one could argue, is coming towards the end of a very popular career. He is 33 years old, and his career spans for nearly a decade. He holds wins over the likes of, other than Cruz, MMA legend Jens Pulver (twice), and former WEC champion Brian Bowles- but some people felt that Barao was something Faber had never encountered before.

So to the fight...

Round 1: They come out, Faber bouncing around, Barao steady yet light on his feet. Barao throws a couple of high kicks that miss. It's a feeling out process that is now the regular sight in most championship fights these days. Faber is easily the aggressor of the two, however, Barao does not look worried in any way. Come the halfway mark of the round, the rolls are reversing, and Barao is starting to stalk down Faber, so far as to landing with a little flurry of strikes around the 2:45 mark. Faber changes his stance every so often, as if he's trying to make Barao react in some way to give him an opening, but it doesn't appear. For the rest of the round, it seems to just be a case of Barao landing jabs and Faber unable to respond. Barao clearly has the speed advantage, and he is using it perfectly. All Faber can do, it would appear, is swing and miss. Round 1 for me goes to Barao.

Round 2: Similar to the start of the first, Faber comes out bouncing, trying to circle around Barao and find an opening, but when he goes for a quick leg kick, Barao backs him up with a 3 punch flurry which doesn't land. Barao now starts throwing leg kicks, a tactic that did undo Faber in his fight against featherweight champion, Jose Aldo. Action is interrupted briefly due to an eye poke to Barao. Barao comes in with a flying knee, then the fighters briefly clinch before seperating again. Barao is using kicks very cleverly to keep Faber at the end of his reach, resulting in the majority of Faber's strikes coming up far too short, although he is landing the odd straight punch. Story of the round really, and personally, I'm thinking if Faber doesn't change his gameplan soon, this fight is only going one way because he can't seem to mount any kind of serious offence. Closer round, but I would still give it to Barao.

Round 3: Again Faber tries to keep active and circle, but when Barao does engage with him, Faber backs up, rather than circles, and just ends up pinned against the cage. A brief tussle ensues, with both fighters landing some strikes before they seperate. Faber finally changes the plan and goes for a takedown attempt, but it's tame and Barao easily shrugs it off. Faber floors Barao with a front kick to the body, but it wasn't because it hurt- it was because Barao was throwing his own kick and was simply pushed off balance and over by Faber's. Urijah lands a strong right hand- is he starting to gain some momentum now? Faber throws a kick which Barao catches, and forces Faber to spin away, briefly touch down on the mat until he regains his footing. Faber is still landing some punches, though. Another takedown attempt from Faber, he's too far out though, and Barao avoids it. Nice uppercut landed by Faber- he's definitely having the better of the exchanges in this round so far. Barao lands a decent leg kick. Neither fighter is really able to land anything telling for the rest of the round- although commentators Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan are making quite a big deal of the leg kicks being landed by Barao and the impact they're having. Much closer round, could easily make a case for both fighters, but I'll give this one to Faber.

Round 4: Both fighters start this round a little more cautious, Barao probably not so keen to engage recklessly now due to the strikes landed by Faber in the previous round. Faber tries grabbing the leg of Barao, but Renan quickly frees it- due to the unsuccessful shoot attempts earlier, is this a different tactic Urijah is going to adopt in order to secure a takedown? Faber appears to be trying to clinch at every available opportuntiy, but Barao shrugs him off with ease everytime- he wants to keep this a kickboxing match. Again action is interrupted, this time Barao returning the eyepoke he suffered earlier. Odd punches are being landed by both fighters, but the tempo does seem to have decreased. Barao continues with the leg kicks again. A few brief tussles and exchanges see out the rest of the round, but not alot of action in all. Tough to call this round due to the somewhat lack of action, but I'd say Barao should get the nod, just due to probably landing more strikes.

Round 5: Final round, and the fighters come out and briefly hug, great show of respect. Strikes get thrown, but none really land- most telling of the first minute was probably a front kick to the body by Faber. Considering Faber is probably down on the judges scorecards, he doesn't seem to be willing to take the gamble and just wail in on Barao, he's still looking like he's just waiting for an opening- one that hasn't presented itself all fight. Barao now starts putting his left arm out straight, as if he's face palming Faber. I don't think it's a sign of disrespect, I think it's just an illustration of how comfortable Barao is in this fight- all Faber can seem to do is throw some uppercuts which look more likely to land on Barao's elbow rather than chin! Barao then lands a solid left hook to the chin of Faber, but Urijah withstands it. Urijah then lands with a superman punch, this time Barao withstands. Rest of the round sees both fighters excahnging jabs, Barao throwing a few kicks. End of the round. Again, not the most action packed of rounds, but again I would imagine Barao would get the nod.

After the fight, Barao is celebrating already, Faber is alot more sombre. Bruce Buffer reads out judges scorecards- 49-46, 50-45, 49-46 in favour of winner by unanimous decision and new UFC interim bantamweight champion, Renan Barao. 2 judges agreed with me scoring wise.

After the fight, I feel even more sorry for Urijah. He has the look of someone who just didn't meet the criteria on the night, and he knows it. Unfortunately, he just couldn't get nothing going.

Barao, on the other hand, is ecstatic! I very much look forward to the unification of the titles, when he and Dominick Cruz do finally meet.