Edson Barboza recently celebrated his 15th anniversary in the UFC and has shared the octagon with some of the all-time greatest lightweights — and no one got him as shocked as former champion Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Looking back at his greatest moments just days away from his 32nd octagon appearance versus Jalin Turner at UFC 323, Barboza named “The Eagle” the most challenging one to face. They met in December 2017, when Barboza was riding a three-fight winning streak over Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez and Beneil Dariush, and Nurmagomedov dominated three rounds to improve to 25-0 and earn a shot at the UFC title.
“It was the only fight where I thought, ‘Man, this guy is ahead of me. I need to work to be able to fight him,’” Barboza told MMA Fighting. “It was Khabib. He was the guy. I remember thinking, ‘Man, he beat me smartly.’ First of all, I didn’t even see him taking me down in real time. That was crazy. I didn’t feel him being strong or anything special, but he was always one step ahead. When I thought about standing up one way, he was already there. When I tried the other side, he was already there too.
“He’s a guy I fought and thought, ‘Damn, this guy is good. He knows exactly what he’s doing.’ He was the only guy I had extreme difficulty with.”
Barboza scored knockouts in half of his 18 UFC victories, flooring the likes of Dariush, Dan Hooker, Shane Burgos, Terry Etim and Evan Dunham, but said his best one is still yet to come.
“The next one, the one happening on December 6,” Barboza said of his clash with Turner. “That’s going to be the best knockout of my career, you can be sure of that [laughs].”
Barboza has also beaten elite competition in decisions throughout his 15 years in the UFC and says “every fight was a war” when pressed to point out his best victory in the promotion, but one recent victory sticks out as ”special.”
“It was a main event, I was knocked down and was out of the planet for the entire first round, but managed to come back and beat Sodiq [Yusuff],” Barboza said. “It’s a special fight that’s still fresh in my mind. It was a real war, five rounds of striking. An unforgettable fight, especially because it happened recently, two fights or so ago.”
Close to turning 40 but far from done in his return to the lightweight division, Barboza wants to make the most of his time inside the octagon until the day he has to walk away.
“I’m very satisfied with my career,” Barboza said. “I think I did everything I could do, and I’ll keep doing it. Maybe the one thing that would close things with a flourish is a title fight. I’ve had multiple main events, I’ve fought in huge stadiums, and I’m truly fulfilled with my career. If something was missing, maybe it was a title shot. And that’s an if. Honestly, I’m at peace with that. It might happen, it might not, and I’ll sleep peacefully either way.”
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