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Dan Ige (11-2) makes it look easy, tapping Danny Henry in under 80 seconds! The Hawaiian has won three straight bouts and is 9-1 in his last 10. The Xtreme Couture rep owns eight career finishes. #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/rJrvd7Q4ie

— Bulgogi Jones (@Hamderlei) March 16, 2019

Featherweights

Edson Barboza (20-8) vs. Dan Ige (13-2)

ODDS: Barboza (-130), Ige (+110)

It will be interesting to see Barboza cut down to 145 pounds. He debuted in the UFC all the way back in 2010, and while he was quite raw in retrospect, he quickly announced himself as an absolute terror. Both then and now, Barboza wields one of the most impressively deadly kicking games in the sport, particularly his brutal low kicks, which he used to chop down Mike Lullo in that aforementioned UFC debut. Eventually, it was Jamie Varner of all people who exposed Barboza’s weaknesses. If his opponents stay aggressive, apply pressure and avoid getting clipped in the process, Barboza’s game begins to fall apart, as he is forced to retreat and circle and is essentially unable to plant and throw those vicious kicks. Barboza still had plenty of success and was perennially only a tier or two beneath title contention, but the last two-plus years have been particularly rough for the Brazilian. While he obliterated Dan Hooker in late 2018, it was his only win in his last five appearances, as the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov and Justin Gaethje blew through every hole in Barboza’s game. After a controversial loss to Paul Felder in September, Barboza initially asked for his release but has instead chosen to drop down to featherweight—a surprising move that came out of nowhere. Ige should be a solid first test to see exactly how well this is all going to work.

Ige’s ascent to featherweight contention has been a pleasant surprise. The Hawaiian secured a UFC contract shortly after an impressive performance on Dana White’s Contender Series, but nothing about his promotional debut particularly stood out. He gave it a game effort and kept things fun but fought a losing battle against Julio Arce. Ige rebounded by winning his next few fights, but it was not until his last two against Kevin Aguilar and Mirsad Bektic that people began to take notice. Aguilar had proven to be a tricky fighter in his previous two UFC outings, and Ige smartly applied pressure and layered striking to win exchanges and easily take the victory. In scoring a narrow win against Bektic—one of the top talents at featherweight—Ige showed that those improvements can translate even against someone with much more horsepower. With a victory here, Ige may find himself within reach of the title picture. That seemed unthinkable just three years ago.

The fascinating part of this? Where is Barboza’s head after this cut to 145 pounds, and how does he react to what Ige brings to the table? While he looked to have improved on some shortcomings in his most recent appearance against Felder, the book on how to beat Barboza remains the same: pressure and get him moving backwards. Ige certainly applies pressure, but the outcome hinges on whether or not Barboza feels prompted enough to get out of danger. There is also the issue of Ige’s size. The Bektic fight proved Ige can be a surprisingly relentless wrestler, but Barboza may not be intimidated knowing that he is the larger man moving down a weight class; and while Ige pressures effectively, he tends to wait until he is actually in range to start exchanging. If Barboza just decides to wait him out, he should be able to hit the harder shots if this fight becomes a series of close-range exchanges rather than Ige getting the Brazilian on the run. If Barboza stands his ground, this should be his fight to lose, with the other main concern being pace and how cutting the additional 10 pounds affects his gas tank. In an interesting fight, the pick is Barboza via decision.

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