UFC featherweight Edson Barboza may have a new opponent after Sodiq Yusuff pulled out for undisclosed reasons. Combate’s Raphael Marinho reports that the UFC is planning to have Barboza fight Makwan Amirkhani on October 10th at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. MMA Junkie’s Mike Bohn and Nolan King have also confirmed the UFC plans. Barboza will look to get his first win in the featherweight division.
Barboza is looking to bounce back from a three-fight losing streak. After two straight losses at lightweight, Barboza made the decision to fight at featherweight this year. He lost his first fight at featherweight against Dan Ige by split decision at UFC on ESPN 8 on May 16. Despite losing to Ige, Barboza looked impressive at featherweight and some fans felt he should’ve won by decision over Ige. He also is ranked 14th in the division even though he lost the fight. An impressive win over Amirkhani could set Barboza up for a fight with someone in the top ten of the featherweight division.
Amirkhani will try to get into the featherweight rankings with a win over Barboza. He’s coming off of a submission win via anaconda choke over Danny Henry at UFC 251 on July 11. A win over Barboza will give Amirkhani the biggest win in the UFC.
The UFC has yet to confirm that the fight as official. The fight is projected to be the co-main event of the October 10th card. The main event will feature a bantamweight matchup between Marlon Moraes and Cory Sandhagen.