Edson
Barboza didn’t feel like a man on a three-fight losing streak
heading into his matchup with Makwan
Amirkhani at
UFC Fight Night 179.
However, that’s exactly what the Brazilian’s record showed
following a skid that included back-to-back split-decision defeats
at the hands of Paul Felder
and Dan
Ige. So one can’t blame Barboza if he felt a sense of relief
after a unanimous decision victory in Saturday’s co-main event at
the Flash Forum in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
“I feel like I take a couple hundred thousand pounds off my
shoulder,” Barboza said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.
“It’s hard. I thought I win my last two fights against Paul and
Ige. Thank God I’m back to get my ‘W,’ and I’m very, very
happy.”
Barboza was explosive and efficient against Amirkhani, flooring his
opponent twice in the second stanza in a convincing performance.
Making the performance more impressive was the fact that Barboza
had to make some adjustments when Amirkhani replaced originally
scheduled foe Sodiq
Yusuff a few weeks before the fight.
“It’s a lot to adjust because I worked the whole camp to fight a
guy who is an orthodox striker, he’s a southpaw wrestler,” Barboza
said. “I had two weeks to adjust, but between the rounds, every
minute I would try to figure out where I would put my foot, stay
in, work my right hand straight, and I did well, I’m very
happy.”
On the heels of his first victory since December 2018, Barboza
would like to keep the positive momentum going.
“Please, UFC, give me a fight soon as possible,” Barboza said. “I
really love my job. I hope UFC give me chance to fight as soon as
possible. I need just a couple of days to enjoy my family and my
kids, my wife. Thank God no injuries. I was 100 percent healthy,
and I want to get back in the gym and train harder and fight as
soon as possible.”
The American Top Team representative can already envision himself
taking on some of the best talent featherweight has to offer. It’s
something he’s already done during a lengthy stint at lightweight
that saw him square off against the likes of Khabib
Nurmagomedov, Justin
Gaethje, Tony
Ferguson, Anthony
Pettis, Donald
Cerrone and Beneil
Dariush, to name a few.
“If you see everyone in the top six, top seven, it’s great
fighters,” Barboza said of the featherweight division. “Imagine me
against Calvin
Kattar, me against [Max] Holloway, me against Yair [Rodriguez],
it’s going to be a great fight. All those guys in top six, top
seven, it’s going to be a great fight.”