Fall From Grace: Renan Barao
Welcome to another edition of Fall from Grace. This week I’m looking at a Brazilian fighter who just three years ago was considered possibly the pound-for-pound best fighter on the planet, and is now struggling to gain any traction at all.
I’m talking about former UFC Bantamweight champion Renan Barao.
How on earth did Barao go from being one of the most feared fighters in the world to a fighter unranked in any weight class, almost a forgotten man in fact? In my opinion, there are a number of reasons, but to truly understand them you have to go back to the beginning.
The Beginning
Like many Brazilian fighters, Renan do Nascimento Mota Pegado – given the nickname ‘Barao’ by his grandmother when he was a youngster – grew up in abject poverty. While more has been written about some of Barao’s fellow Brazilians struggling growing up, little has been truly said about the background of ‘The Baron’ other than that when he first arrived at Nova Uniao, the famed Brazilian MMA camp, he slept on a bed that was little more than a wooden board laid across bricks, and that he would go to bed early and get up late to shorten his days, meaning he could avoid having to pay for meals.
After training some boxing with his father at a very young age, Barao was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by a friend at the age of fourteen. Initially, he trained with Kimura Nova Uniao, an offshoot of the legendary stable that also contained notable MMA fighters such as Jussier Formiga and Ronny Markes. Once he began to dabble more and more in the world of MMA, his training began to move away from the Kimura team – situated in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte – and over to Rio de Janeiro, where he would train with Andre Pederneiras and the full Nova Uniao setup.
Also read: MMA Origins: Cain Velasquez
Barao turned professional in April 2005 and in his debut, he fought an unknown by the name of Joao Paulo Rodrigues and lost a unanimous decision.
It would be his only loss for some time.
Beginning with his second professional fight in May 2005, Barao put together one of the most impressive streaks in MMA history. 24 fights, 23 wins with one no contest caused when Barao’s opponent used an illegal soccer kick to daze him. While his list of victims contained mostly unknown fighters, he did pick up wins over future TUF Brazil stars Rony Jason and Anistavio ‘Gasparzinho’ Medeiros.
Even if his win streak was made up of victories over “butchers, bakers and candlestick makers”, as the legendary trash-talker Chael Sonnen once claimed, it’s still a huge achievement for anyone participating in a sport as unpredictable as MMA.
In January 2010, famed website Sherdog.com named the 135lber the top prospect in their list of ’10 Brazilians to watch out for’. Just a few months later, he was signed by the WEC.