Edson Barboza survives early onslaught, defeats Sodiq Yusuff in UFC Vegas 81 main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us tonight, October 14, 2023, for UFC Vegas 81, going down live from the UFC Apex in Enterprise, Nevada.
Headlining the event was a featherweight bout between no. 11 ranked Sodiq Yusuff (13-3) and no. 13 ranked Edson Barboza (24-11).
Yusuff came into tonight’s main event on a two-fight win streak, having submitted Don Shainis in a mere 30 seconds of his last performance, while Barboza KO’d Billy Quarantillo midway through the opening round of his latest appearance.
Continue reading to see how this featherweight main event went down:
Official Result: Edson Barboza def. Sodiq Yusuff via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-46, 48-46)
Yusuff takes the center once the bout begins and immediately stuns Barboza with a nasty right hand in the middle of an exchange. He continues walking Barboza down, landing heavy punches and continuing to hurt the Brazilian. Barboza eventually drops down, where he’s controlled on the ground for the second half of the opening round.
This one was very close to being over multiple times through the first five minutes, Yusuff out-landing Barboza 44-10.
Yusuff’s output certainly slowed as round two went on, though he was still controlling the fight through the first half of it. Barboza began to land shots of his own as Yusuff stopped forcing him backwards.
Barboza makes a great adjustment in the third round and begins going to the body with his left hook, landing a number of them throughout the round. He also lands a nasty spinning wheel kick that badly hurts Yusuff toward the end of the round, nearly finishing the fight in its tracks.
Yusuff’s jab gets him back into the fight in round four, though he’s still being picked apart and failing to move forward.
Yusuff lands a couple good left hooks in the fifth and final round but is ultimately outpaced and taken down towards the end of it. Following out-landing Barboza over 4-to-1 in the opening round, he was out-struck in the remaining four; he just couldn’t keep that pace through the fight.
Edson Barboza improves his streak to two-straight tonight at UFC Vegas 81.
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