By now everyone knows the story. Renan Barao passed out while cutting weight and to make a long story short, was forced to pull out of his scheduled title rematch against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 177 just one day before the event. As a result, UFC newcomer Joe Soto took the fight on 24-hours notice so that the event could remain in tact.
During the FOX Sports 1 preliminary portion of the event on Saturday night, UFC commentator Joe Rogan interviewed Barao through a translator backstage at the show. In fact, Rogan left the broadcast table in the middle of a fight, being temporarily replaced by Kenny Florian, so that he could interview Barao.
Barao explained his side of the story to Rogan, detailing what went down on Friday.
“I was dehydrating in the bath tub. I feinted, I hit my head, I was taken to the hospital,” said the former UFC Bantamweight Champion.
“I was fine,” Barao added. “My weight was around regular what I come in for fight week. Everything was fine, everything was going great the whole week. The whole thing was I hit my head in the bathtub and that’s where it all went down.”
Barao also addressed the criticism he has faced for his weight-cutting methods, backing them up and pointing out that he’s never failed to make weight for a fight in the past.
“I’ve had 35 fights cutting weight [with] this method,” Barao explained. “It’s always fine for me. I think the whole problem is I got up too fast and I blacked out and I fell, so that was the whole issue.”
Barao continued, “I was very excited, I trained very hard for this fight. I’m disappointed to let down the UFC and all the fans, everyone who came out. I’m very sad to not be fighting here tonight. This is something I do, it’s a dream come true every time I go in there and fight, and I’m very disappointed not to be fighting. I want to come back and I want to face T.J. He’s been saying a lot of things and I want to come in here and tear his head off.”
Barao’s replacement, Joe Soto, ended up fighting five hard rounds against Dillashaw, landing some good shots early on, but ultimately dropping the bout by way of fifth round knockout loss.
For complete UFC 177 results, click the following link: UFC 177 Results: Dillashaw KOs Soto With Fifth Round Head Kick
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