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Last week it was announced that a fight between #3 ranked Anthony Pettis will face #8 ranked Edson Barboza at UFC 197 this April. Both fighters are looking to rebound with wins since Pettis lost to Eddie Alvarez and Barboza lost to Tony Ferguson in their last fights.
Pettis and Barboza are similar when looking for ways to win a fight. Both have great kicking techniques that they use extremely well to earn victories. Both fighters have no interest in taking a fight to the ground, they look to use their high-level striking to get the win on fight night.
This contest has the making of being a very dangerous chess match. One wrong slip or feint could prove fatal for either competitor. Each of these men is going to try and do the exact same thing to each other.
Both don’t have that fight altering power in their hands so they’ll be looking to use their kicking power to gain the advantage.
I see no advantage for either fighter in terms of kicking techniques or power. Both men are very violent.
This is a dangerous fight for Pettis to take against Barboza. Barboza went 1-2 for the 2015 calendar year. His lone win was over Paul Felder while his losses were to Ferguson and Michael Johnson.
With a poor 2015 calendar year for Barboza he’s still a very tough out for anyone at lightweight, especially Pettis given their similar fighting styles. This fight will more than likely be a point winning contest.
There was a few other options out there for Pettis that I believe made more sense for him to take.
Michael Johnson would’ve been a great match-up. Pettis would’ve been a favourite to neutralize Johnson’s wrestling game, and Johnson generally prefers to stand with his opponents.
Pettis would without a question possess a clear advantage in the striking department against Johnson. Johnson is also ranked higher than Barboza. His current ranking is #7 in the UFC.
A win over Barboza doesn’t really do much for Pettis’s stock in his rise for another Lightweight title-shot. Yes it’s great, he gets some octagon time and a chance to earn some money. But these types of opponents aren’t going to prove to us that he’s deserving of a title-shot if victorious.
He has to prove he can neutralise a wrestler’s attacks.
For us fans, I love this Pettis versus Barboza fight. This will be a high-level chess match. But when analysing what Pettis should do for his career. I’m not a fan of this choice by him and his team.
What’s the biggest fight Pettis could possibly make right now in his career?
The answer doesn’t come at Lightweight. The biggest fight he could possibly make right now that’s in the realm of being possible is Chad Mendes.
This is a much higher profile fight for Pettis. We get that aura of him dropping in weight and we get to see how he can deal with a wrestler in the lighter weight division.
Both men are coming off losses and a win for either fighter would be major compliment to their resumes.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like the Barboza fight. But a win for Pettis in this fight isn’t going to move him that much closer to a title shot.
Lightweight is going to backed up for another year with the amount of challengers currently in play in the division. Seems like Pettis should take a note out Benson Henderson’s playbook.
He should change divisions and challenge top contender Chad Mendes. This fight raises my interest a lot more than Barboza.
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