Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Ultimate Fighting Championship athlete Edson “Junior” Barboza Jr., 31, has a tough mission to accomplish on December 30, 2017. If the Brazilian mixed martial artist emerges victorious at “UFC 219”, he will be the first MMA fighter to defeat Dagestan, Russia’s Khabib “The Eagle”Nurmagomedov, who has 24 wins and 0.
Competing in the lightweight division, Nurmagomedov and Barboza will co-headline “UFC 219,” which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The main event is a UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship bout between current champion Cris “Cyborg” Justino and former champion Holly “The Preacher’s Daughter” Holm.
Barboza currently holds a professional MMA record of 19 wins and 4 losses. The only four opponents he lost to since his professional MMA debut in 2009 are Jamie Varner, Donald Cerrone, Michael Johnson and Tony Ferguson.
Johnson is the most recent opponent of Nurmagomedov before “UFC 219”. The latter submitted the former via kimura at “UFC 205” on November 12, 2016 in New York City, New York, USA.
After losing to Nurmagomedov, Johnson faced Justin Gaethje at “The Ultimate Fighter: Redemption Finale” on July 7, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Gaethje knocked out Johnson.
On February 22, 2015, Barboza lost to Johnson via unanimous decision at “UFC Fight Night 61”. Barboza’s most recent fight before “UFC 219” was on March 11, 2017 at “UFC Fight Night 106” in Fortaleza, Brazil, where he knocked out Beneil Dariush via flying knee at 3:35 of Round 2.
Barboza’s win over Dariush was also declared the Performance of the Night. On December 27, 2017, it was also named 2017 Knockout of the Year by Sherdog.
CONAN Daily 