Brazilian mixed martial artist Edson Barbosa shared his expectations for the upcoming fight against Georgian Giga Chikadze. At the same time, Edson refused to make any predictions.
Edson Barboza (22-9 MMA, 16-9 UFC), who has made 25 walks to the UFC octagon, has nearly double the fight experience of Chikadze (13-2 MMA, 6-0 UFC) during his UFC tenure alone. However, the discrepancy in the number of fights between the two fighters doesn’t both the Brazilian. In fact, the matchup excited him when it was presented.
“When I see this fight on paper, I know it’s gonna be a great fight,” Edson Barboza told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the UFC Apex on Wednesday. “I know people are gonna watch this fight. I had to say yes to this fight because it’s gonna be a war.”
Since making the switch from lightweight to featherweight, Barboza has gone 2-1, currently riding a two-fight win streak with wins over Makwan Amirkhani and Shane Burgos.
“My goal is to go out there and have fun,” Barboza said. “I know if I go out there and give my best, it’s gonna be a great fight. I never think about going out there, ‘I got to finish!’ You know? Because if I know I go out there and fight – bro, I have 25 fights in the UFC. All those fights I go out there and just fight.
“It’s gonna be a great fight, I know.”