This Saturday night brings the UFC on FOX 16 show to Chicago where bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw will defend his title against former champion Renan Barao.
Dillashaw won the belt from Barao in May of 2014, when he put on a dominant performance as a big underdog, earning the stopapge and the belt at the halfway mark of the fifth round. It was an unexpected, standout performance for Dillashaw over a long-time champion, and a rematch was immediately scheduled. Unfortunately for all involved, Barao failed to make weight and was replaced on less than a days notice by veteran Joe Soto, who pushed Dillashaw into the fifth round before gonig down himself.
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The match-up with Soto left Dillashaw with something to prove. Soto is a solid veteran who deserves a lot of credit for taking the fight under those circumstances, put in his follow-up UFC fight this past June, he was stopped in roughly a minute and a half by Anthony Birchak, a fighter who was 0-1 in the UFC.
The bottom line for Dillashaw is he has only defended the belt once since won it more than a year ago, and that lone title defense came under less than perfect circumstances. The match with Soto is now looked at as a match where Dillashaw should not have been extended into the fifth round. So this rematch with Barao, who was once considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world, is a must win for TJ.
Check out our video blog where we review the odds for the main card of UFC on FOX 16.
