The first time Renan Barao fought Urijah Faber, back at UFC 149 in Calgary back in 2012, the Brazilian put a beating on the American over a full five rounds en route to winning the interim bantamweight championship. Tonight (Sat., Feb. 1, 2014) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, in the main event of UFC 169 on pay-per-view (PPV), Faber got his shot at revenge.
He couldn't take advantage.
Actually, he took a savage beating. The Brazilian champion landed a hard right hand down the middle that put "The California Kid" on his back, seemingly out cold. He woke up, though, and somehow managed to battle back to his feet.
The American would take another minute or so of punishment, never really getting his legs back under him. Barao continued to push forward with an aggression Faber was no longer able to defend against.
In fact, after another knockdown, he simply covered his head and took a barrage of punches. Referee Herb Dean shouted for Faber to do something, anything, but when that didn't happen, he called for the stoppage.
One the entire arena, including the challenger, was terribly unhappy with.
After, Faber told Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview that despite being hurt, he was good to continue. "He told me to do something so I gave him a thumbs up under there right before he stopped it."
Upon the replay, Faber did indeed give Dean the thumbs up.
An unfortunate end, though Barao was dominating the bout up until that moment.
Your thoughts, Maniacs?
For everything you need to know on "Barao vs. Faber 2" click here, and for complete UFC 169 results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here.