Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Featherweight veterans Renan Barao and Phillipe Nover collided last night (Sept. 24, 2016) at UFC Fight Night 95 inside Ginasio Nilson Nelson in Brasilia, Brazil. Though this was hardly a difficult match up for the former champion, there was a lot on the line last night for Barao. It’s been quite some time since the Brazilian has looked good in a victory, and he was hoping to accomplish that goal at the very least.
Meanwhile, Nover may have been picked as a sacrifice for Barao, but this was still a major opportunity for the former Ultimate Fighter prospect. He’s been around the game for quite some time, so it really was now-or-never in terms of finally becoming a relevant player in his division.
After a feeling out process, it became clear that this bout would be contested at the kickboxing range. Both men were fighting similarly, as they exchanged jabs, kicks, and counter punches.
Though it was close early, Barao began to take over at about the midway point in the round. His punches were a touch sharper, but it was really the Brazilian’s low kicks that allowed him to take control and do more damage.
It wasn’t dominant, but it was a clear cut round for the former champion.
The second round was even more successful for Barao. Now that he had successfully figured out Nover’s timing and game, he did a wonderful job of shutting down his opponent’s offense.
Each time Nover tried to step forward and throw, he wound up eating a counter. It forced him on the defensive, as any real offense resulted in him eating yet another hard low kick or a combination of punches. Outside of one nice combination in the clinch, Nover was completely ineffective in the second round.
Barao controlled the round masterfully.
Despite getting picked apart in the second, Nover rallied back a bit to make the third round the closest of the fight. Barao seemed to fade a bit, which allowed Nover to land some decently powerful punches, particularly in the rare event that the fight hit the clinch.
That said, Barao still took the round. He kept it close and landed his own hard punches on the feet too, but Barao scored a number of important takedowns from the clinch as well.
All in all, it was a complete performance for the Brazilian.
Barao at Featherweight is an interesting situation. When he’s on point and fighting sharp, Barao is as good as anyone else in the division. He’s quick and sharp on his feet, and Barao really is a nasty counter striker when he’s able to find the distance and dictate exchanges.
That said, Barao also tends to slip up for whatever reason. He’s too willing of a brawler and sometimes gets into bad exchanges, which seems to trouble him far more now that he’s not such a large fighter. When he’s forced to plant his feet and throw, it really seems to take a lot out of him.
That’s a problem.
On the bright side, Barao did a far better job of setting up his takedowns in this bout. He was repeatedly able to land the body lock off his cross or by slipping his foe’s strikes, and his takedowns from that position are top-notch.
Since there are still some kinks for Barao to work out, he doesn’t need to jump back into the title mix just yet. For example, a fight with someone like Tatsuya Kawajiri would make sense.
Nover had his moments in this bout. He was able to grapple and wrestle with his opponent without being dominated, which is an accomplishment in its own right. Plus, he hung tough when taking the harder shots, eventually opening up chances to land his own blows.
It’s difficult to overcome a fighter who is the all-around more technical athlete, so we shouldn’t be too harsh on Nover. If he were able to push the pace a bit harder early on and force Barao out of his comfort zone, he may have been able to take over in time to win a decision or land a seriously significant punch.
Last night, Barao out-worked his opponent en route to a unanimous decision win. Can Barao put it all together and become a contender again?
For complete UFC Fight Night 95: "Cyborg vs Lansberg" fight results and play-by-play, click HERE!