For the first time as the official bantamweight champion Renan Barao looked to defend his belt in a rematch against Urijah Faber at UFC 169. Barao hurt Faber with a big left hook early in the first round. Faber did his best to recover, but took further punishment. Hurt once again in bottom sprawl position, Faber wasn’t doing enough to keep Herb Dean from stopping the fight almost four minutes in.
The two 135 lbers started out slow in the opening round of their championship fight. Barao came forward looking to back Faber into the fence. Faber tried to back him up with bower shots but ended up taking a big left hand that dropped him. Barao tried to follow up and Faber was able to recover. Back on the feet, Barao hurt him again. Urijah turtled as Barao threw blows to his arms. Referee Herb Dean decided the challenger wasnt doing enough to defend himself and called the fight.
Renan Barao defended his bantamweight title with a first round TKO of Urijah Faber at 3:42 .
Barao won the interim title in fourth UFC fight when he first met Faber in the Octagon. Undefeated in the UFC he had defended the interim strap three times before former champ Dominick Cruz vacated the title. After losing to Barao at UFC 149, Faber went on a four-fight win streak to secure another shot at UFC gold.
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