While the Halloween weekend was a bit spoiled by Friday’s news of Khabib Nurmagomedov’s rib injury, there were a few fight announcements which made up for it. Tony Ferguson vs Edson Barboza – TUF 22 Finale Nurmagomedov may be out, but now Edson Barboza is in, which makes for a hell of a match-up. Barboza is on the heels of an impressive unanimous decision victory over Paul Felder at UFC on Fox 16 this past summer in Chicago while Ferguson has won has won six straight bouts inside the Octagon and is coming off the biggest win of his career, a one-sided showcase against former Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson this past July. The short notice replacement for Barboza could be key here because he only has about six weeks to prepare for Ferguson, but Barboza is the overall more technical pure striker. Ferguson has some crazy dimensions to his game with an improving ground focus while possessing the longest reach in the lightweight division, so this should be very close. I wouldn’t be shocked to see this bout open as a pick’em with a slight lean towards Ferguson due to his recent run of success.
