After seemingly being reinvigorated at featherweight, Edson Barboza is in line for a major opportunity in his next fight. He has a few options in mind for who he would like that to be.
At 35 years old, it seemed like the best days were behind Barboza. While he never made it to the title picture at lightweight, he built a resume as one of the scariest fighters the sport has ever seen.
However things have started to change now that he has moved to 145lb. His first outing at featherweight did not go his way, he is now riding a two-fight winning streak, with his most recent victory being an impressive yet bizarre knockout over Shane Burgos.
Reacting To The Bizarre KO
The reason why this knockout from Edson Barboza is being considered as a bit strange, is because of the way it unfolded. The Brazilian landed a beautiful punch to finish the fight, but Shane had a delayed reaction with several seconds going by before he succumbed to the knockout.
Speaking in an interview with MiddleEasy, The Brazilian explained that this was indeed something new to him as well. That being said, he believes that the delayed response came as a result of an accumulation of the damage that Burgos had taken throughout the fight.
“I really believe it was the accumulation of shots because I landed a lot of shots, clean shots on him and he did not go down. He would go down, but he would come back, and especially the first round. I didn’t understand when he went down, but I think it’s because I connected many shots on him,” Barboza said.
“I know this happens all the time with the body shot, you connect with the body shot, wait a couple of seconds, and you go down. But yeah, it’s a little different, this one, I think. It’s the first time I’ve seen that long (before the opponent falls).”
What’s Next For Edson Barboza?
After such an impressive performance, Edson Barboza has put himself in prime position for a big opponent in his next fight. When asked if he had anybody in mind, he rattled off a slew of potential opponents for his next outing in the Octagon.
“I’m a fan, and I want to watch some good fights. I know if I have an opportunity to fight somebody, and put on a really good show for the company, the pay-per-view, if you see the top five guys, all those names are going to be a crazy fight.
“Me against (Calvin) Kattar, bro magic. War. Me against (Yair) Rodriguez, me against Zombie (Chan Sung Jung), me against (Max) Holloway, magic. It’s going to be a crazy fight, easy fight to sell because everybody knows it’s going to be a war,” Barboza said.
One person that Edson failed to mention, is Zabit Magomedsharipov, who was ranked at number two before the UFC removed him due to inactivity. Since then, it has come out that the Chechen was considering retirement, after feeling burnt out by the sport.
While Barboza is not concerning himself with somebody who may retire, he says that he would be down for this fight even though they are former training partners. In fact, he believes that this would be an all out war.
“I don’t think about him. If he’s out of the rankings, I don’t know if he’ll come back. I don’t (waste) my time thinking about something that I don’t know,” he said.
“(We trained together) for a couple of years in New Jersey. He’s such a nice guy, I know how tough he is. Yeah, it’s going to be a war like the same thing I said against those guys in the top five, me against him is going to be a war,” Barboza continued.
“I know how tough he is, he knows how tough I am, and we had the opportunity to train a lot together, with a lot of sparring. The most important thing, is there’s a lot of respect between us. I always respected him, he always respected me, and I know to go in the cage with him it would not be different.”
Who would you like to see Edson Barboza fight next?
