A scary-fun Ultimate Fighting Championship scrap is on the
books for the event on Halloween weekend.
On Friday, Eurosport
Spain broke the news that Edson
Barboza (22-11) will be throwing down with Ilia
Topuria (12-0) at 145 pounds on Oct.
29. The event, which does not yet have a title or official
venue, will be a Fight Night offering that could air either on
ESPN+ or one of the main networks, depending on scheduling. This
potential featherweight thriller has since been confirmed by
multiple
outlets. This bout is the first to be officially listed on the
Oct. 29 show’s lineup, and it is not expected to serve as the
headliner.
Barboza will be looking to right the ship after a pair of defeats
to Giga
Chikadze and Bryce
Mitchell in 2021 and 2022, respectively. The dangerous
Brazilian striker dropped down to featherweight in 2020, and
dropped a contentious split decision to Dan Ige to
start things off. A pair of victories over Makwan
Amirkhani and Shane
Burgos showed the move might bear fruit, and then he ran into
Chikadze to shut down any momentum. Barboza is one of a small
number of fighters throughout company history to pocket at least 10
post-fight bonuses, and his eight for “Fight of the Night” are tied
with Nate
Diaz and Frankie
Edgar for the most in company history.
The well-traveled Topuria has yet to taste defeat as a pro,
rattling off four wins inside the Octagon since debuting late 2020.
Topuria thwarted rising talent Youssef
Zalal in that first outing, and three straight knockouts over
Youssef
Zalal, Ryan Hall and
Jai
Herbert – the last of those three at lightweight – propelled
him into the UFC’s rankings at featherweight. Born in Germany,
sporting Georgian nationality and training out of Spain, Topuria
celebrates a stellar finish rate of 92%, with all of those
stoppages coming within two rounds.