Jeremy Stephens: I Can KO Renan Barao With One Shot
Renan Barao is set to make his UFC featherweight debut after two unsuccessful attempts at former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw.
The Brazilian was finished by Dillashaw in the fifth round of their first encounter at UFC 173, where Dillashaw won the title from Barao after a devastating head kick.
The two met once again in a title rematch at UFC on FOX 18, this time however Dillashaw finished the Brazilian thirty-five seconds into the fourth round.
Now Barao takes a step up into the 145-pound division, after some disastrous weight cuts to 135 pounds, and takes on No. 9-Ranked featherweight Jeremy Stephens.
In a recent interview with FOX Sports, Stephens expressed his excitement for his upcoming bout against the former king of the bantamweight division:
“This is the type of fight I want. It’s probably one of the reasons why I’m one of the higher paced featherweights,” Stephens said.
“This is what I signed up for. This is what I love. Coming off the last fight, it wasn’t much of a fight. It was so weird and I just didn’t really feel like I got to fight.
So I stayed in shape and thought maybe I’d get a short notice fight and then they gave me a guy in Renan Barao. It just goes to show the faith the company has in me.
They want to see me fight. They want to match me up with the best and they like seeing a fist fight.”
‘Lil’ Heathen’ expects to stand and trade with Barao, and claims he doesn’t have to worry about point fighting against the Brazilian:
“With Renan Barao, you don’t have to worry about him running all over the place, point fighting or anything like that. He brings it and I know he’s going to be hungry coming off two losses (to TJ Dillashaw). I’m excited for this.”
Stephens is confident in his ability to finish Barao, but isn’t afraid to go the distance with the former bantamweight champ either:
“If I don’t break him in the first exchange or when he wants to take me down, because I know he’s going to want to take me down, as soon as he can’t get me down to the mat I’m just going to keep breaking him, breaking him, breaking him and I can beat him up for 15 minutes or I can knock him out with one shot,” Stephens said.
While Stephens expects a healthier and more conditioned Barao, he still expects to welcome the Brazilian to the 145-pound division in the harshest way possible:
“I think him going up into a weight class, he’ll be a little bit more healthy and he’ll have better nutrition and maybe better cardio.
I feel like him moving up is a smart move but I’m not a stepping stone for anybody. I’m not a pushover. I’m really enjoying the fact that he has to fight me and I’d love to welcome him and I’d love to knock him the (expletive) out to be honest.”
I have the power in all three rounds. I feel like everything he’s good at, I’m better. I have more power in my punches and I have just as much experience as this kid.
I feel really good about this fight. I’ve seen things in the fights with Dillashaw and I’m not Dillashaw. He’s never fought anybody like me.
I’m going to be just as big if not bigger. I’m going to be strong. Once I land, I’m going to land and I don’t just TKO you. I knock you out to where they have to wake you up and they’ve got to ask their coaches what happened.”
Stephens can empathize with Barao’s situation, as he moved down to featherweight after multiple losses towards the end of his run in the 155-pound division:
“I know people are going to ask him those questions, but I feel those are questions he’s probably been asking himself,” Stephen said. “I’ve been in his situations where I’ve come off two losses.
I’ve been there and what I took from it was I was hungry like a lion. I was starving. So I had to kill something in order to keep my job.
So I’m preparing for that hungry Renan Barao that wants to come back, but those are a lot of mental issues, which I feel everything in life is 80-percent mental and 20-percent physical. Everything starts in the mind.”
In the end Stephens plans to send Barao home with yet another loss on his record, spoiling the Brazilian’s debut in the 145-pound division:
“Starting in his mind it’s like ‘is my chin all right?’, ‘I’m fighting a heavier hitter than Dillashaw’, ‘I’m coming off two losses am I going to get cut?’, ‘I’m moving up to a different weight class’. He’s asking himself a lot.”
“I’m a human highlight reel,” Stephens said. “I like to put people out, it’s exciting and it pays my bills and puts more money in my bank account and I just love to do it. I love it.”
Stephens and Barao are set to lock horns in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 88 this Sunday night, May 29th, 2016.
