Manager explains why Dominick Cruz’s title win was ‘great’ for former champ Renan Barao

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Dominick Cruz dethroned T.J. Dillashaw to reclaim the UFC bantamweight title at UFC Fight Night 81, and his win might affect the future of a former champion.

Renan Barao considered moving to the featherweight division after losing to Dillashaw in July, his second TKO loss to the California-native in 14 months. However, watching Cruz defeat his ex-rival via decision last Sunday gives him hope to one day fight for the 135-pound title again.

"I can’t say the result wasn’t good for us. It was," Barao’s coach and manager Andre Pederneiras said in a media scrum. "The belt changing hands is great for us. If T.J. continued as champion, we wouldn’t have a third fight between T.J. and Barao, so the result was really good for us."

Pederneiras doesn’t know if one win could be enough for Barao to be back in the title picture, but hopes so.

"That’s an answer I can’t give you. If you ask me if that’s what I want, of course it is," he said. "That’s what I wanted. But we have to wait and see how everything goes. It’s too soon to talk about it."

The fact that the bantamweight division has a new champion won’t be enough to rule out a move to 145 pounds. According to Pederneiras, Barao might compete at featherweight once to give his body some rest after consecutive rough weight cuts.

"Maybe give his body some rest because of all this (weight) loss is one of the factors," he said. "It won’t take too long (to make this decision)."

Barao moved back to Natal after his second loss to Dillashaw, and "Dede" believes that staying away from the media and distractions in Rio de Janeiro is helping him recover.

"If you put your body under pressure all the time, you tend to wear out," said Pederneiras. "If you relax with nothing in your mind putting you under pressure, ‘oh, there’s a fight coming’, you can recover from a lot of things, both physically and mentally. It’s been great for him."