Raphael Assuncao: The Odd Man Out

By Adam Martin

There is an odd man out in the UFC bantamweight title picture, and his name is Raphael Assuncao. The top 135-pound contender fights Bryan Caraway this weekend in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 54, and if he wins, he will be on a seven-fight win streak in the Octagon.

And yet, despite his undefeated record in the weight class and high divisional ranking, Assuncao is not guaranteed the next title shot. In fact, he’s most likely going to have to win eight in a row if he wants a crack at the title. That’s because former UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz recently returned from a three-year layoff and, with a vicious first-round stoppage of Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178, leapfrogged Assuncao into the top contender’s spot, as the UFC has already confirmed he’s the next opponent for UFC Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw.

I’m okay with Cruz regaining the #1 contender spot and getting a shot at the title, because he never lost the belt in the first place. But there’s no doubt in my mind Assuncao is getting the short end of the stick here.

Remember, Assuncao actually beat Dillashaw last year. Yes, the decision was close, some may say controversial, but at the end of the day he won, and yet the UFC never respected that win. Instead of Assuncao fighting former UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barão, the UFC gave the title shot to Dillashaw, and he won the belt in devastating fashion at UFC 173.

Then, instead of giving Assuncao a title fight against Dillashaw, even after he had beaten top prospect Pedro Munhoz in a placeholder fight at UFC 170, the UFC instead booked Barão to fight Dillashaw in a rematch at UFC 177. And we all know what happened there – Barão missed weight, Dillashaw instead fought Joe Soto, and Dillashaw upped his win streak to three with another devastating knockout on Soto.

After the fight, UFC president Dana White said that Barão lost his title shot and that Assuncao should “probably” be next in line for Dillashaw, should he get by Caraway. But after Cruz knocked out Mizugaki, White changed his mind and gave the title shot to “The Dominator” instead.

Again, I understand why Cruz is getting the title shot against Dillashaw, and I agree with it. But I feel like Assuncao has been passed over numerous times before this situation even happened, and I feel bad for him because at the end of the day, he did his job of winning, and he’s looked great over his win streak. If Assuncao just had wins over the other contenders in the division, that would be one thing, but he beat the current champion one year ago and yet never got a chance to fight for the title, let alone rematch the fighter he actually beat.

Since Assuncao isn’t getting the next title shot, here’s what I propose. If Assuncao beats Caraway this weekend, he should fight Barão, and the winner of that fight should face the winner of Dillashaw and Cruz. I think these are clearly the top four guys in the division and I think these two fights make sense. And, if by some reason Caraway beats Assuncao, then he can fight Barão too. Either way, I think this is the way to go.

It’s not ideal for Assuncao, obviously, to have to beat eight guys to get a crack at a UFC title, but unfortunately life isn’t fair and the UFC certainly isn’t fair. Right or wrong, Assuncao is the odd man out in the UFC bantamweight division, and the only thing he can do to change that is to keep winning, and keep winning in impressive fashion. And I have no doubt that’s what he’ll keep doing.