Topuria (12-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC) faces Edson Barboza (22-11 MMA, 16-11 UFC) at a UFC Fight Night event on Oct. 29, which is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
A person with knowledge of the matchup confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie on Friday but asked to remain anonymous because the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. Eurosport Spain was first to report the news.
Topuria made his lightweight debut in his most recent outing in March, when he scored a bonus-winning second-round knockout of Jai Herbert at UFC Fight Night 204. The undefeated 25-year-old will return to his original weight class when he meets elite striker Barboza.
Barboza, 36, has split his past four appearances. After a dominant win over Makwan Amirkhani, followed by a knockout of Shane Burgos at UFC 262, Barboza has dropped two straight to Giga Chikadze and, most recently, Bryce Mitchell at UFC 272 in March.
The Barboza-Topuria booking is the first known fight for the Oct. 29 event.
Wtf, does the UFC want Edson to be a cripple?
His strength of schedule is reaching top 10 status.
Edson is going to die
He’s been a tremendous competitor for years but he’s on the decline and UFC seems eager to sacrifice what value he has left by feeding him to vicious up-and-comers.
This fight
Barboza is like Aldo when it comes to fights…these guys never get easy fights.
JDS too.
JDS made his UFC vs Werdum when he was only 6-1 in MMA. Still won.
Went on and fought Struve, Crocop, Yvel, Gonazaga, Nelson, Carwin, Cain, Mir and Cain again to complete his first ten fights in the UFC.
To get to 15 UFC fights he had to fight Stipe 2x, Overeem, Ivanov and Rothwell.
Finished his career in the UFC fighting Tuivasa, Lewis, Ngannou, Blaydes, Rozenstruik and Gane.
Not many UFC fighters with 20 or 25 fights have fought that level the whole time, very few.
this
Geez he just fought an undefeated fighter in thug nasty his last fight
I wouldn’t count Barbazo out. It’s Topuria by k.o. or Barboza by decision
looks like barboza is out, thank goodness.