A featherweight bout between Edson Barboza and Josh Emmett has been added to the UFC Fight Night card in Oklahoma City, which takes place on May 2, 2020.
The fight announcement was first reported by Combate, suggesting that Barboza vs. Emmett happen on main card at UFC Oklahoma City in May, which is headlined by Chris Weidman vs. Jack Hermansson.
Edson Barboza had been suggesting moving down to featherweight from the lightweight division for a few months now. The Brazilian striker is just 1-4 in his last 5 Octagon appearance, with losses to highly ranked opponents such as UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, Kevin Lee, Justin Gaethje and Paul Felder. Fans were wondering what direction Barboza was going to take with his career after the 34 year old requested to be released by the UFC earlier in the week. Now it appears that he will indeed be making the drop to featherweight and taking on a top-10 ranked opponent in Josh Emmett.
Josh Emmett has a professional MMA record of 15-2 and is 6-2 overall in the UFC. He is currently ranked No. 9 in the UFC featherweight division, with some impressive performances in his last 2 Octagon appearances, scoring knockout victories over Michael Johnson and Mirsad Bektic.
Edson Barboza is currently ranked No. 10 in the UFC lightweight division and if he is able to get a win over Emmett, who is ranked No.9 at featherweight, it would put him in the mix in the stacked UFC featherweight division
This article first appeared on CLOSEDGUARDMEDIA.com on 12th March, 2020..
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