Edson Barboza teases December UFC return following recent TKO loss to Giga Chikadze
UFC featherweight contender Edson Barboza teased a December UFC return following his recent TKO loss to Giga Chikadze.
Barboza, the No. 10 ranked featherweight in the UFC, saw his two-fight winning streak get snapped when he was knocked out in the third round by Chikadze last month at UFC Vegas 35. It was a tough loss for the 35-year-old Brazilian, who had tons of momentum leading into that fight following his previous wins over Shane Burgos and Makwan Amirkhani at 145lbs. With the loss to Chikadze, Barboza dropped to 2-2 as a UFC featherweight, but despite his .500 record in the division, “Junior” is optimistic about the future.
Taking to his social media in a recent post, Barboza teased that he could make a return to the Octagon by year’s end, pointing to December as a potential date for when he would like to step back into the cage again.
“December? I’m in!!!” Barboza wrote on his Instagram.
Although Barboza’s latest defeat to Chikadze certainly hurt him in regards to the title picture at 145lbs, he’s a fighter at heart and it’s clear that he still has plenty of entertaining fights to offer the fans going forward. Following the loss to Chikadze, it’s hard to see Barboza moving up the UFC featherweight rankings far enough to the point where he could be competing for a belt, but there are certainly plenty of fun fights for him, even if they don’t involve title implications. Just looking at the rankings, fights against the likes of Sodiq Yusuff or Ilia Topuria would be a lot of fun and also make sense based on the rankings. Then again, if Barboza’s goal is to get back in the cage in December, he might be open to fighting someone unranked.
Who do you want to see Edson Barboza fight next after losing to Giga Chikadze in his last fight?
