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Barao To Defend Interim Title Against McDonald

Quote:

Renan Barao will put his UFC interim bantamweight title on the line against Michael McDonald, according to Tuesday's edition of UFC Tonight on Fuel TV. While the bout has been agreed upon by both fighters, a date and location have yet to be determined.

The decision to move forward with Barao as interim champion comes after news broke that current bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz underwent a second surgery on his injured left knee. Cruz last defended his title against Demetrious Johnson on Oct. 1, 2011, but the new surgery means it will be at least another year before the champion is again able to compete.

Cruz was originally scheduled to defend his title against Urijah Faber over the summer, before the knee injury injury caused Cruz to pull out of the fight. That led to a bout between Faber and Barao for the interim title at UFC 149 in Calgary. Barao (29-1, 1 no-contest), who trains with featherweight champion Jose Aldo at Nova Unaio, cruised to a unanimous decision victory.

At just 21, MacDonald has the opportunity to become the youngest titleholder in UFC history. The Modesto, Calif. native is 15-1 in his career with nine knockouts and four submissions. His most recent victory was a first-round knockout of former WEC champion Miguel Torres at UFC 145. Jon Jones, who was 23 years and eight months old when he defeated Mauricio Rua for the UFC light heavyweight title, holds the record for youngest champion (This does not include tournament championships from the UFC's early days).

While there have been several interim champions in UFC history, actual title defenses of interim belts have been few and far between. The last one came at UFC 92, when Frank Mir defeated interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to set up a unification bout with Brock Lesnar.

Nice fight, 21 year old Champ would be mad.

http://www.mmafighting.com/ufc/2012/...gainst-michael

How old was Jon? Would a win make MacDonald the youngest?

Edit nevermind read the article. I was just thinking it and commented before reading.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Life B Ez (Post 1654267)

I was just thinking it and commented before reading.

Unbelievable :angry02:

lol. Good fight this. And one of few they can do to really build up the division at this point. Not sure who to go with. Barao is good, but I wasn't as impressed with his last two performances as others were. He performed well, but he hardly looked a world beater. Whereas Mayday has been starching his opponents left and right.

I'm goin' with McDonald on this one. Barao didn't impress me against Faber or Jorgensen. Granted, they were top 10 opponents.

This fight will likely Headline Fuel tv 7 (London) or Fuel Tv 8 (Japan) since Rousey vs Cyborg is headlining Ufc 157..

great exposure to the casual fan who would probably see either fighter as an unknown

Feeling bad for Mayday already.

Excellent fight that will push the BW division forward. It would suck for Jon Jones if he lost his youngest champion record so quickly!

Quote:

Originally Posted by guycanada (Post 1654295)

There's no way a title fight will be on FUEL, this will probably be on FOX in April.

Mayday takes it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLyotoLegion (Post 1654305)

There's no way a title fight will be on FUEL, this will probably be on FOX in April.

Mayday takes it.

Perhaps..Dana said early 2013, April 20 is 2nd Quarter....and there is no way this headlines a PPV...

They tend to follow similar timelines/schedules...

2012

143 - Feb 4

Fuel - Feb 15

144 - Feb 26

Fuel - Mar 3

Cancelled Montreal - Mar 21

Fuel - April 14

145 - April 21

Fox 3 - May 5

2013

Feb

2 - Ufc 156: Aldo vs Edgar

15 - Fuel London

23 - Ufc 157: Rousey vs Cyborg

March

2 - Fuel Japan

16 - PPV in Montreal

April

20 - Fox 6

27- PPV New Jersey: Jones vs Sonnen

Barao get into wild flurries where be keeps his chin up and I can see MacDonald connecting. But I also think Barao is much faster and better on the mat. Going to be interesting.

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