UFC 138 Results: Renan Barao and the Top 10 Bantamweights in the UFC
On Saturday night—afternoon for people in the US—UFC 138 went down in Birmingham, England.
This card had little hype behind it, but as we have learned by this point, the most underhyped cards sometimes deliver the biggest fireworks.
This card was no different, as all five main card bouts ended in 10 minutes or less.
In the Barao-Pickett fight, Renan Barao made a huge statement to the entire bantamweight division, as he submitted Pickett in the first round.
Barao is likely the top contender who has not already faced Dominick Cruz, and with one or two more wins he could face off against the champ.
No. 10: Michael McDonald
1 of 10Michael McDonald is 13-1 in his career, and is 3-0 in the UFC and WEC combined.
In his last fight, he won a hard-fought split decision over Chris Cariaso, and before that, he won fight of the night for his unanimous decision victory over Edwin Figueroa.
McDonald may fight at the UFC on Fox card.
No. 9: Eddie Wineland
2 of 10Eddie Wineland is a former WEC bantamweight champion, but has proved unable to compete with the top bantamweights these days.
In his final WEC fight, Wineland won KO of the night with a slam victory over Ken Stone.
Since then, in two UFC fights, Wineland has dropped unanimous decisions to Urijah Faber and Joseph Benavidez.
That's some tough competition, but two losses are still two losses—unless your name is Dan Hardy.
No. 8: Miguel Torres
3 of 10Miguel Torres is the former bantamweight champion, but he is another fighter who has proven to be unable to keep up with this generation of bantamweights.
At his peak, Torres had a record of 36-1, but over his past five fights, that has dropped to 38-4, as he has suffered losses to Brian Bowles, Joseph Benavidez and Demetrious Johnson.
All of those men are top five bantamweights, and they are pushing Torres towards the door.
He is still a dangerous bantamweight, but he's not the same fighter he once was.
His next fight will be against Nick Pace at UFC 139.
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No. 7: Renan Barao
4 of 10Damn. That was impressive.
On Saturday, Renan Barao submitted Brad Pickett in the first round in an incredibly impressive performance.
Barao is the holder of one of the most impressive unbeaten streaks in MMA, as his record of 27-1 [1 NC] stands for itself.
His only career loss was in his first pro fight. So that's 28 fights without a loss, not bad.
Barao has finished 3 of his 4 opponents under ZUFFA, with three submissions and a decision victory.
He will likely take on a top-five guy in his next fight.
No. 6: Scott Jorgensen
5 of 10Scott Jorgensen is a top bantamweight, but may not ever have what it takes to become the champion—at least as long as Dominick Cruz has a say.
Jorgensen fought Cruz at WEC 53, and lost every round on the scorecards.
In his ZUFFA career, Jorgensen is 9-3, including a win over Jeff Curran on Saturday night, so he's definitely a top fighter, just not quite at the top of his game yet.
His next fight will likely be against a top-five bantamweight.
No. 5: Demetrious Johnson
6 of 10He was already ranked about here before losing to Cruz, so him losing here should be no surprise.
Johnson put up a good fight, but in the end, he dropped the unanimous decision to Dominick Cruz.
With wins over Kid Yamamoto and Miguel Torres, Johnson is a top bantamweight, but he could be a champ at flyweight.
Hear that Uncle Dana? We need the flyweight class. For Johnson's sake.
No. 4: Brian Bowles
7 of 10Brian Bowles is the former WEC bantamweight champion, and is another fighter who has already been defeated by Dominick Cruz.
Bowles was outclassed in the two rounds against Cruz before a doctor's stoppage due to a broken hand suffered by Bowles.
Since that loss, Bowles has won two straight over Damacio Page and Takeya Mizugaki, and now finds himself in a No. 1 contender match against Urijah Faber at UFC 139.
A win against Faber, and Bowles gets a chance to avenge his only career loss.
No. 3: Urijah Faber
8 of 10Urijah Faber is clearly the No. 3 bantamweight fighter in the UFC today.
Faber is the former longtime WEC featherweight champion, but title fights have been less than kind to him lately, as he is 0-4 in his last four title fights.
Most recently, he dropped a competitive unanimous decision to Dominick Cruz at UFC 132, where it was the headlining bout.
His next fight will be a No. 1-contender bout against Brian Bowles at UFC 139.
No. 2: Joseph Benavidez
9 of 10No real surprise having Benavidez as the No. 2 bantamweight—at least I'd assume so.
Benavidez is 15-2 in his career, and both of his losses have been to the champ, Dominick Cruz.
One would expect that Faber and Benavidez would be facing off in the No. 1 contender match, but unfortunately, they train together and do not want to fight.
I smell a Koscheck-Fitch situation.
Benavidez is a prime candidate for a drop to the flyweight division when it is added to the UFC.
No. 1: Dominick Cruz
10 of 10Duh.
Cruz is the current champion, and he is well on his way to cleaning out the bantamweight division.
Cruz has defeated No. 2 (twice), No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 on this list. The only new challenger who could potentially get to Cruz would be Barao.
Next for Cruz will likely be a rematch with either Urijah Faber or Brian Bowles, as the winner of that is next in line for a shot at his UFC belt.
After that, maybe a super-fight with featherweight champion Jose Aldo...
We can only hope.
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