Raphael Assuncao: I Was Ready And In Shape To Fight TJ Dillashaw At UFC 177
The news that former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao was removed from his UFC 177 rematch with TJ Dillashaw was terrible for everyone involved. It hit the fans, especially those who had bought PPV’s, it was awful for Barao’s title hopes, and the promotion really doesn’t need any more headaches right now.
Although Barao’s replacement Joe Soto is probably pretty happy right now, I highly doubt that number three bantamweight contender Raphael Assuncao is feeling too great about it. Assuncao is the last man to beat TJ Dillashaw, and is riding a six-fight win streak at present. As it stands, the unranked and debuting Joe Soto got the call up for the big show.
The Brazilian grappling ace took to his Twitter account to voice his displeasure in the UFC’s choice of replacement for Barao at UFC 177:
Much respect and best regards to Barão BUT THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MY TITLE SHOT @ufc 177 I was ready in shape, healthy & 6 fight win streak.
— Raphael Assuncao (@RaphaAssuncao) August 29, 2014
If he truly is fit and ready to go, surely a courtesy call to Assuncao was in order? He beat “The Viper” in 2013 with a controversial split decision, but he beat him nonetheless. A follow up decision win over Pedro Munhoz put Assuncao’s streak to six, and he is unbeaten as a bantamweight in the UFC.
In fact, Assuncao has only ever lost once in the UFC, and that was to Erik Koch in his promotional debut at featherweight. What do you think, would it have made more sense to get the last man to beat the champion in as Renan Barao’s replacement, or was the promotion better off getting an unranked debutant in to fight the champion?
