Presented in partnership with UFC 242 on ESPN+
Anyone who’s ever watched a UFC fight has likely seen a bit of Edson Barboza and his kickboxing wizardry.
A perennial top-10 lightweight, Barboza is responsible for one of the UFC’s all-time great knockouts. His spinning hook kick of Terry Etim at UFC 142 is played before every major event, so whenever Barboza is on a fight card, fans are eagerly anticipating some nasty Muay Thai kicks. It’s almost reason enough to order the UFC 242 Pay Per View main card on ESPN+.
Barboza holds more than one major UFC highlight. He’s also the only fighter to ever finish a UFC fight with kicks to the legs, kicks to the body, and kicks to the head. That’s some serious kicking — major kicking.
Now Barboza, who’s facing Paul Felder in a rematch of their 2015 affair, is entering the UFC 242 co-main event coming off a loss. He suffered a pretty bad knockout in March in a headlining bout against Justin Gaethje and is actually in the midst of the roughest stretch of his career, losing three of his last four, but make no mistake, Barboza is always game to throw down. And Barboza is always a threat to deliver the most violent and brutal knockout.
Looking back to early 2017 and the last time Barboza won back-to-back fights, the Muay Thai specialist from Rio De Janeiro was facing Beneil Dariush at a Fight Night event in Fortaleza, Brazil. At that point, it had been nearly three years since Barboza landed a KO, but fans were there (both in the arena and glued to the TV) waiting for another highlight-reel knockout. And boy did Barboza come through, although this time is was with the knees rather than the kicks.
His flying knee over Dariush was on the shortlist for 2017 Knockout of the Year, placed perfectly to deliver maximum damage and entertainment value.
More than just a kicker, however, Barboza has become quite adept with his hands, and just last December he beat up on fourteenth-ranked Dan Hooker pretty bad for a couple of rounds before finishing the fight with a nasty body shot in the third. It was the first time Barboza had stopped a fight with his hands in more than eight years and became evidence enough that even after 20 fights in the UFC, he was still adding new tools to his arsenal.
While a Barboza fight is always worth watching (even the time he got completely smashed by Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 219), this matchup against Felder at UFC 242 is even more interesting because it’s a rematch of their Fight of the Night from July 2015.
In the years that have passed since Barboza and Felder last fought, Barboza has shown some improvements, despite going 4-4 in the UFC, losing to top fighters like Nurmagomedov, Tony Ferguson, Gaethje, and eighth-ranked Kevin Lee. Felder, on the other hand, has made tremendous strides, going 6-3 in the UFC, albeit against a lower tier of competition.
UFC 242 represents a major crossroads for a fighter like Barboza, who has been near the top for so long. Having already lost too many of the world’s top lightweights, he’s honestly very unlikely to earn a UFC title shot at this point in his career. However, he can maintain his place in the pecking order against a very game, very hungry Felder, who still has quite a bit of upward trajectory left.
Felder is also a great test for Barboza because he fights with a very similar Muay Thai style, ensuring that this bout is unlikely to go to the ground. No, Barboza and Felder prefer the old “stand and bang” style of fighting that has helped them combine for 13 fight night bonuses. They’ve proven themselves to be complete action fighters who are always threatening with kicks.
So check out Edson Barboza and Paul Felder on the UFC 242 Pay Per View main card on ESPN+, and you just might witness another one of the UFC’s all-time great highlight-reel moments.
UFC 242 Pay Per View Main Card on ESPN+ (11 a.m. PST / 2 p.m. EST)*
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier
Edson Barboza vs. Paul Felder
Islam Makhachev vs. Davi Ramos
Curtis Blaydes vs. Shamil Abdurakhimov
Mairbek Taisumov vs. Diego Ferreira
UFC 242 Prelims*
Khalid Taha vs. Bruno Silva
Teemu Packalen vs. Ottman Azaitar
Joanne Calderwood vs. Andrea Lee
Sarah Moras vs. Liana Jojua
Belal Muhammad vs. Takashi Sato
Nordine Taleb vs. Muslim Salikhov
Zak Cummings vs. Omari Akhmedov
Don Madge vs. Fares Ziam
*Bout order subject to change
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