TJ did a proper number on Barao

[Deleted member 385619]

Most of those dominant fighters turn a lot more human after their first bad loss.

Junior is human after Cain beatings.
Anderson Silva after Weidman as well.
Fedor after Werdum.

It is not only them whom mentally (before the loss) had the inner confidence that they could overcome and win any fight.
After the loss, a seed of doubt is born and they don't pull the trigger as easily as they did.
And their opponents know they are beatable as well, so they trust themselves more (I can only imagine what they felt before facing those guys when they had that aura of unbeatability)...

But yeah, TJ did great against Barao. But he was not the best nor the only one to do this to a dominant champion.

Why the shot at TJ? The question wasn’t whether he is the best. Kinda odd[/QUOTE]

 

[ifindgifsforjackslack]

Usada did a number on jones. 2-0

 

[VAfan]

some guys run on confidence and once that's gone, they're a shadow of what they were before.

 

[Dirge]

Barao went 1-4 post usada Including his second fight with TJ

 

[Deleted member 510653]

Now he's fighting some rookie nobody has ever heard of just to give him a win.. lol. I wish the UFC wouldn't do stuff like that sometimes

 

[Cooliox]

The Bathtub did it to Barao.

He got knocked out even before he made it to the rematch against TJ.

Dude was cutting way too much weight for way too long.

Extreme weigh-cutters have no longevity in a division. You can only succeed over a short span of time

 

[mirellale]

Can't believe we're already 17 posts in and none of you goofballs have trotted out the line that it was USADA that did a proper number on Barao.

I mean, sure, Barao's fall to TJ was completely unrelated, given that it happened a whole year or so before USADA came in, but since when did Sherdog let facts get in the way of a good mud-slinging?

But Barao started to look like shit in the Mitch Gagnon fight which was before USADA.It's pretty clear that TJ loss affected him.

 

[DOMMA]

Lawler has not looked the same since the Woodley fight.

 

[Individualthoughtpatterns]

Lewis vs Ngannou
Woodley vs Maia/Thompson
Fitch vs Daley

 

[Rum]

But Barao started to look like shit in the Mitch Gagnon fight which was before USADA.It's pretty clear that TJ loss affected him.

Exactly.

Barao was on the downward slide at least two fights pre-USADA.

 

[NGute87]

That he did. Barao is broken it seems.
You know... I do miss the threads about how ugly that guy is. That was some funny stuff.

 

[daniel san]

Something has happened with Barao that's for sure. Maybe extreme weight cutting and USADA plays a role in it all and getting TKO'd by TJ twice surely didn't help. Only thing to take into account is that Barao had never fought anyone as good as TJ or the current elite BWs like Cruz, Garbrandt, Assuncao etc. His best win is against Faber who at the time they fought had started to decline.

 

[INTERL0PER]

It's not just the confidence and losing the aura of invincibility, which are definitely real factors, but fighters can be actually damaged from those fights.

Barao's losses to TJ, Pettis's loss to RDA, all of Lawler's wars, those fights take a toll.

As MMA fans we've become desensitized to violence, but those fighters took more brain trauma in those fights alone than most people take in their whole lives. That shit can permanently diminish someone.

I mean, fuck, that finishing ultra-combo TJ landed on Barao in their second fight is the shit of nightmares. Just brutal.

 

[FrontNakedChoke]

TJ on his Shang Tsung shit

 

[Shaddows]

Why the shot at TJ? The question wasn’t whether he is the best. Kinda odd

no shot at all.
You mention him as if he did something unique.
My answer is more broad, and included names and examples of other fighters who did the same.

I was not thinking about de-meriting TJ at all, only approaching the issue from the mental perspective of the other fighter (the dominant one that lost).
This is something that I thought about and that is intriguing to me, so I shared....

 

[Mammothman]

That he did. Barao is broken it seems.
You know... I do miss the threads about how ugly that guy is. That was some funny stuff.

And his weird dance, oh.. 2013/2014 were long time ago

 

[TheAmericanGazelle]

The guy had 34 fights before the age of 27.

As to the degree that matters vs. simply fighting better fighters in real terms vs. TJ "breaking him" vs. USADA I don't know.

Likely it is a combination of factors.

 

[vindaloo]

its possible the same thing could happen to cody after those beatings

 

[gono btw]

This is the reality of having to defend your belt: you become the main target, and they all study your game.

IIRC, TJ said during the pre-fight talks, that he indeed studied Barao´s game during one year, to the point where he could almost mimick him...

In retrospective, this is a testament of TJ´s hespect for Barao´s game, to those who claim Barao was overrated...

 

[MikalP]

Can't believe we're already 17 posts in and none of you goofballs have trotted out the line that it was USADA that did a proper number on Barao.

I mean, sure, Barao's fall to TJ was completely unrelated, given that it happened a whole year or so before USADA came in, but since when did Sherdog let facts get in the way of a good mud-slinging?

Because it's stupid to try and pin every decline on USADA