Renan Barao defeated Urijah Faber for the interim UFC Bantamweight title by unanimous decision at UFC 149.
In what was a rather uneventful fight, the result was still easy to determine as Barao controlled the pace and aggression of the fight from the first round on.
Taking a page out of Jose Aldo's victory over Faber, Barao went after Faber's legs. Although he didn't brutalize The California Kid like Aldo did, it was enough to get the job done.
Barao's leg kicks got him going in this fight. After landing a few significant shots to Faber's legs, the former champ began to open up. That allowed Barao to blast Faber with strikes above the waist, scoring points at will.
Pegado did a great job of throwing combos off his kicks as well.
Faber never really got it going at all. Even before suffering Barao's vicious kicks, Faber looked hesitant to attack Pegado, and found himself backing up more than he was moving forward.
It only got worse as the fight went on. Faber began to feel the pain of clean leg kicks in the later rounds, and that resulted in his punches getting shorter and shorter. It was as if Faber couldn't push off and follow through enough to do any damage when he actually landed his strikes cleanly which were few and very far between.
Barao was able to thwart any take down attempt Faber made, leaving The California Kid with zero options to win this fight.
Pegado is now unbeaten in 29 straight fights, and has cemented himself as one of the best fighters in his division.
For Faber, this is his fifth consecutive loss in a title bout, and it will undoubtedly end his hopes of regaining a belt anytime soon. Barao was clearly in another class than his opponent, and that reality could spell disaster for Faber's career.
The next time we see Barao, it will be in a match for the undisputed UFC Bantamweight championship against Dominick Cruz.
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