An all-action Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight
rumble is coming to the cage in mid-October.
MMAJunkie first broke the news on Thursday that Sodiq
Yusuff (13-2) and Edson
Barboza (23-11) were planning on throwing down at the untitled
UFC
Fight Night event on Oct. 14. The fight card is expected to be
held inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and there is no headliner
or much of its billing announced as of yet. This featherweight
matchup has since been confirmed by Yusuff on Twitter
shortly after its announcement.
This will be Yusuff’s first appearance in 2023, after a successful
2022 campaign that saw him pick up a decision win over Alex
Caceres and then tap out Don Shainis
in 30 seconds almost seven months later. After seven outings in the
Octagon thus far, Yusuff has lost just one time, taking top
contender Arnold
Allen to the scorecards and coming up short. On his way up the
145-pound ladder, he beat the likes of Andre Fili,
Gabriel
Benitez and Sheymon
Moraes.
At 37 years of age, the book is still not fully written about human
highlight reel Barboza. In a rough spot back in 2020, having lost
his last three – albeit the last two were razor-close split
decisions – Barboza went out to handle Makwan
Amirkhani and then short-circuited Shane
Burgos a few months later. When Giga
Chikadze busted him up and Bryce
Mitchell outgrappled him, some expected the best days were
firmly behind Barboza. In April, however, Barboza turned in a
vintage performance by lamping Billy
Quarantillo with a knee in the first round, and positioned
himself one behind UFC leader Donald
Cerrone for the most knockouts with strikes from his legs
(six).