A lightweight fight between Justin Gaethje and Edson Barboza has been targeted for an as-yet-uncomfirmed UFC event in March.
That’s the word according to MMAjunkie who suggest that the fight could take place as either UFC On ESPN+ 6 or UFC On ESPN 2.
Gaethje is coming off a 87 second knockout of James Vick last time out in the main event of UFC Fight Night 135, which brought an end to a two-fight losing streak that had seen him be knocked out by Eddie Alvarez and then TKO’d by Dustin Poirier.
Those two defeats marked the end of Gaethje’s 18-fight unbeaten record, but with his recent victory he’s back on track and currently holds the No.7 spot on the official UFC rankings.
As for Barboza, he’s in a similar situation, coming off a third round KO victory over Dan Hooker in December, which helped cast aside the memory of having been dominated by Khabib Nurmagomedov and TKO’d by Kevin Lee prior to that.
Having racked up three wins before that against Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez and Beneil Dariush, Barboza remains one place above Gaethje at No.6 heading into this fight.
As things stand it appears that it’s more likely the fight will land on UFC On ESPN 2 in Philadelphia but a final decision doesn’t appear to have been made yet.
