Preview: UFC on ESPN 44 ‘Holloway vs. Allen’

Featherweights

Billy Quarantillo (17-4, 5-2 UFC) vs. #14 FW | Edson Barboza (22-11, 16-11 UFC)

ODDS: Quarantillo (-175), Barboza (+150)

It has been too long since we have seen Barboza make a trip to the Octagon, but the Brazilian finally returns from the first year-plus layoff of his long career. “Junior” was signed by the UFC in 2010 about a year and a half into his pro career, back when fighters simply did not get the call that early, which speaks to how highly regarded he was as a prospect. Barboza lived up to the hype early on, reeling off four straight wins and scoring an all-timer of a highlight with a wheel kick knockout of Terry Etim. However, it was Jamie Varner of all people who handed Barboza his first loss and exposed what would come to be the main hole in his game. Barboza is an absolute terror and one of the best kickers in the sport when given time and space to work, but he is suddenly a much less effective fighter if his opponent can bring enough pressure to get him to move backwards. That has still been easier said than done—fighters like Beneil Dariush and Dan Hooker have had the right idea but still gotten knocked out—but enough opponents at lightweight were able to stifle Barboza that he eventually decided to cut down to featherweight in 2020. Unfortunately, a somewhat controversial split decision loss to Dan Ige quickly established that it would be much the same story for Barboza, who falls clearly somewhere between the top 10-15 best fighters in the division but has enough stylistic issues to keep him from getting all the way to the top. After two straight losses, Barboza looks to rebound against Quarantillo in a matchup that figures to go very well for one fighter and very poorly for another.

Quarantillo took the long road to a UFC contract, going through both “The Ultimate Fighter” and Dana White’s Contender Series to make it onto the roster; and that persistence is not exactly a surprise given the approach he brings inside the cage. Quarantillo appears to be among the most unkillable fighters on the UFC roster and leverages that to swamp his opponents with offense that might be quite messy but usually pays off in the long run. The gambit is that Quarantillo’s opponent will break before he does, and that has worked all the way up to the fringes of the UFC rankings. It is also the exact type of approach that can neutralize Barboza on paper, which makes this a hard fight to parse in theory but one that figures to be one-sided in practice. Quarantillo could take Barboza completely out of his game, or he could wind up like Hooker, who could not instill enough fear to get the Brazilian moving backwards and instead just absorbed abuse until his body shut down. Quarantillo has been stalled out enough against elite athletes that Barboza gets the nod here, but this could easily be a breakout win for the American. The pick is Barboza via decision.

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Holloway vs. Allen
Quarantillo vs. Barboza
Jacoby vs. Murzakanov
Cutelaba vs. Boser
Gutierrez vs. Munhoz
Garcia vs. Guida
The Prelims