Preview: UFC Fight Night ‘Bigfoot vs. Mir’

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LIGHTWEIGHTS

Edson Barboza (15-2, 9-2 UFC) vs. Michael Johnson (15-8, 7-4 UFC)

THE MATCHUP: Praise to Joe Silva for providing us with one of the most exciting matchups in the lightweight division. Johnson has been a wrecking machine over his last several fights, brutalizing Joe Lauzon, Gleison Tibau and Melvin Guillard in consecutive outings. Barboza has always been a well of limitless potential, but his recent victories over Evan Dunham and Bobby Green show that he might finally be making it reality.

This is an awesome fight in its own right, but the winner will also have a strong claim to a top-10 or even top-5 opponent in his next bout.

Johnson has made drastic improvements to his game since moving to the Blackzilians. Always a physically talented and athletic fighter, Johnson has evolved into a crisp, lightning-fast and fundamentally sound striker with vicious power in his hands. He presses forward and circles behind a sharp jab and right low kick from his southpaw stance and then whips a blazing straight left early and often. He consistently finds clean angles and especially excels at playing from the inside angle, with his foot inside his opponent’s lead foot instead of outside, as is the norm in an orthodox-southpaw matchup. Johnson’s offense and defense blend together into a seamless whole, and he is fantastic at slipping his head offline and returning with a devastating punching combination. His takedown defense has improved, as well, and his constant movement makes it quite difficult to get a clean shot at him.

Barboza is a whirling dervish of muay Thai destruction. Rightly famed for the cracking power of his kicks, the Brazilian has developed a fantastic combination punching arsenal to complement his kicking game, and he has grown into one of the most fearsome strikers at 155 pounds. An incredible athlete, the sheer speed with which Barboza throws is mindboggling. He presses forward behind a range-finding jab or front kick and follows with sharp round kicks at all levels, using his consistent low kicking game to set up shots to the body and head. If his opponent tries to pressure, Barboza comes back with vicious head-body counterpunching combinations. Striking defense is still a problem for the Brazilian, though. His head movement comes and goes; he has a tendency to drop his hands and admire his work after throwing a particularly gorgeous shot; and if he does get hit, his chin is questionable. Barboza’s takedown defense is nearly impenetrable, and he is almost impossible to hold in the clinch if he does not want to be there.

THE PICK: This is a coin-flip fight, and it could easily go either way. I slightly favor Johnson, however, due to his prowess as a counterpuncher and Barboza’s tendency toward defensive lapses after he throws his shots. I expect the Brazilian to put in good work early, with Johnson getting the worse end of the initial exchanges before landing a hard straight left to put down Barboza at some point. The pick is Johnson by knockout in the second round.

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