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The American Top Team standout will draw his fourth assignment at 145 pounds—he owns a 2-1 record since he enacted his relocation plan a little more than a year ago—when he confronts the red-hot Giga Chikadze in the UFC on ESPN 30 headliner this Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Barboza enters the cage on the strength of back-to-back victories. The 35-year-old Brazilian last appeared at UFC 262, where he punched out Shane Burgos in the third round of their May 15 pairing. He has delivered 13 of his 22 professional victories by knockout or technical knockout.
As Barboza makes final preparations for his pivotal showdown with Chikadze, a look at some of the rivalries that have helped shape his career:
Donald Cerrone
“Cowboy” submitted Barboza with a rear-naked choke in the first round of their UFC on Fox 11 lightweight showcase on April 19, 2014 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Cerrone brought it to a close 3:15 into Round 1, slowing the former Ring of Combat champion’s upward trajectory at 155 pounds. Barboza staggered the World Extreme Cagefighting veteran with a ringing right hand in the opening seconds and controlled the early exchanges, pairing precise power punching combinations with kicks to the leg and body. Prosperity, however, was short-lived for the Brazilian muay Thai machine. Cerrone floored him with a left jab, jumped to his back in an opportunistic transition and cinched the choke in an instant. Barboza had no choice but to tap.
Paul Felder
A poised and efficient Barboza outstruck the previously unbeaten Felder to a unanimous decision in a UFC on Fox 16 lightweight feature on July 25, 2015 at the United Center in Chicago. All three cageside judges struck 29-28 scorecards for the Brazilian, who landed more often with fewer attempts than Felder. Barboza’s kicks were a deciding factor. He peppered Felder’s right side and legs with devastating blows, slowing the Philadelphia native’s advances and leaving his ribs grotesquely discolored. “The Irish Dragon” damaged Barboza’s right eye with a clean left hook in the first round, but the speed difference between the two lightweights became more and more glaring as their encounter moved forward. The onetime Ring of Combat champion beat Felder to the punch down the stretch, countered the American’s spinning attacks with some of his own and did more than enough to curry favor with the three men in the jury box: Kelvin Caldwell, Sal D’Amato and Clay Goodman. Felder exacted a measure of revenge in their rematch some four years later, as he eked out a contentious split decision over the American Top Team rep and evened their head-to-head series at UFC 242.
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Tony Ferguson
“El Cucuy” submitted Barboza with a brabo choke in the second round of their lightweight attraction at “The Ultimate Fighter 22” Finale on Dec. 11, 2015 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. Ferguson drew the curtain 2:54 into Round 2, bringing one of the year’s best fights to a decisive conclusion. Two of the UFC’s premier competitors at 155 pounds emptied their respective tool boxes, and it was spellbinding. Ferguson weathered a point deduction for an illegal upkick during a remarkable first round in which the action never stopped. Barboza countered beautifully, fired off a number of his lightning-bolt kicks and dodged three rolling kneebar attempts from the Californian. They picked up where they left off in Round 2. There, Ferguson continued to press forward in the face of serious artillery and opened a cut on the Brazilian’s forehead with a standing elbow strike. Blood poured down Barboza’s face and onto his chest. A short-notice substitution for the injured Khabib Nurmagomedov, the former Ring of Combat champion shot for an ill-advised takedown and wandered into the choke during the scramble that followed. Once Ferguson’s arms were in place, there was no escape.
Dan Hooker
Barboza put away the City Kickboxing star with a left hook to the body in the third round of their UFC on Fox 31 co-main event on Dec. 15, 2018 at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. Hooker, who entered the cage on a four-fight winning streak, bowed out 2:19 into Round 3—the unwitting victim in Sherdog’s “Beatdown of the Year.” Barboza was in prime form. The Brazilian destroyed the inside of Hooker’s lead leg with his patented Louisville Slugger kicks before targeting the head and body with his fists and shins. Barboza was sadistic in his approach, answering “The Hangman” with increasing violence at every turn. He doubled over Hooker with multiple spinning back kicks below the navel in the third round, reset and then sealed the Kiwi’s fate with a wicked left hook to the liver.