Edson Barboza’s move to featherweight is not a one-time trial to see how he feels. One of the top-ranked lightweights in the UFC for many years, the Brazilian is going after the 145-pound gold.
Barboza announced his decision to drop a weight class in late 2019, and his debut will finally go down when he faces Dan Ige at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 8 card in Jacksonville, Fla.
Barboza was briefly linked to a fight with Josh Emmett that never came to fruition, but doesn’t see much different between Emmett and Ige “because they are both excellent athletes.