It’s been a marathon of a month for UFC. After a Pay-Per-View, a TUF Finale, and a couple of Fight Nights, we’re wrapping up July with the fifth UFC event for the month. This one has a very solid line up: a bantamweight title fight topping the bill, backed by seven other interesting matchups – all broadcast for free on Fox. Even the Fight Pass prelims have a couple of fights worth tuning into. All the fights are very closely matched-up, at least according to sports betting odds if not from the ranking standpoint.
Main Event: (C) [#1 BW] T.J. Dillashaw vs [#2 BW] Renan Barao for the UFC Bantamweight Championship
Worth: $20
Why: In most cases, I would valuate a title fight featuring the top two ranked fighters in their weight class at or near the $25 single-fight limit that I’ve set for myself. However, for this fight I was struggling to even give it $20. The main reason for this is the weird state of the bantamweight division. This is the most splintered men’s division in the sport, with four of the Top 10 fighters outside of the UFC (and only two of those four are in the same organization). The rest of the Top 10 is taken up by Dominic Cruz, who’s fought once since 2011 and suffered another injury after his only fight; Urijah Faber, who has pretty much run out of title shots at any weight class and is now in the stage of his career where he will mostly be involved in ‘feature fights’; Raphael Assuncao; and somehow Manny Gamburyan. Assuncao is on a seven win streak and holds a split decision win over Dillashaw, so he will almost certainly be the next challenger for the title, but he is a rather bland decision fighter. Outside of the Top 10, the UFC’s best prospects are Aljamain Sterling and Thomas Almeida, and it would be logical to match them up next, but I don’t believe that either man is ready for a title shot. Unfortunately one of them will most likely be rushed into it anyhow, unless UFC is able to steal one of the other top bantamweights away from the competition.
As for the actual fight at hand, it also has some odd circumstances surrounding it. Dillashaw came into the first fight with Barao as a huge underdog, but overcame the odds and dominated the reigning champion, hurting him early in the first round and finishing him in the fifth. An immediate rematch was scheduled (of course), but disintegrated at the last minute when Barao fell ill as he was attempting to make weight. TJ Dillashaw ended up defending against the fight night substitute Joe Soto, while Barao had to take on Mitch Gagnon to earn his rematch again. Though both men finished their opponents, neither looked particularly impressive considering how much of a step down they were taking. Still, this is a good fight – the best that the UFC has to work with in the division at the moment. It just doesn’t feel like the winner of this fight can truly claim to be the best bantamweight in the world, with Dominic Cruz still in the game and so many top fighters competing outside of the UFC.