5 times the aura of a UFC champion was destroyed completely

#4 Renan Barao vs. TJ Dillashaw

Going into his fourth Bantamweight title defence at UFC 173 against TJ Dillashaw, people, including UFC President Dana White, were talking Renan Barao up as perhaps the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

It made sense, too – he hadn’t lost a fight in a decade and he’d hammered top contenders like Urijah Faber and Eddie Wineland, and made it look pretty easy too. And Dillashaw was only one fight off a loss to Raphael Assuncao, who couldn’t take the fight due to injury. It looked like business as usual for the Brazilian.

Except, well, it wasn’t. Dillashaw – once known as a wrestler – had improved his striking training under Duane ‘Bang’ Ludwig to the point where his fleet-footed style was simply able to destroy Barao’s more flat-footed Muay Thai game.

A huge right hand almost had Barao out cold in the first round and from there it was simply a case of Dillashaw outclassing the champion. By the fifth round, it was clear that a new champion was about to be crowned, but Dillashaw put a stamp on it by knocking Barao out with a head kick and a flurry.

The beating meant Barao’s aura was thoroughly destroyed – he missed weight and had to pull out of a scheduled rematch with Dillashaw a few months later, struggled past the unranked Mitch Gagnon in his comeback fight, was hammered by Dillashaw in the eventual rematch and he’s since lost two of his last three fights.

Essentially, the first Dillashaw fight ended his career as a top-level UFC fighter.