Barboza Titleshot in Jeopardy by Refusal to Fight Alvarez

Should these team mates fight for the belt?


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Edson Barboza addresses possible fight with teammate Eddie Alvarez

As Edson Barboza prepared to face former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis in his last fight, he was confident about getting a win, but the addition of a secret weapon to his training camp made all the difference.

That weapon was fellow lightweight Eddie Alvarez.

Alvarez recently relocated from working with his previous team in Florida to move back home, where he started working with coaches and training partners in New Jersey with Barboza counted among them.

The move helped Alvarez win the lightweight title just a couple of weeks ago, but he also assisted Barboza with the tips and tricks he used to beat Pettis at UFC 197. Now, Barboza is calling on Alvarez again as he prepares to face Gilbert Melendez at FOX UFC Fight Night in Chicago this Saturday night.

"It's a blessing to have Eddie here. He's helped me a lot," Barboza told FOX Sports. "He fought with Gilbert and the same with Pettis. He told me 'he's good here, not so good here' and he did the same thing with Gilbert. He helped me a lot.

"He's the champ right now and I'm happy for him. I'm very blessed to have him as a training partner."

Of course Alvarez joining the same team as Barboza also brings up potential conflicts in the future.

Now that Alvarez is champion, he's tasked with facing all the top contenders in his division and Barboza is a top 10-ranked fighter with aspirations of one day having the gold wrapped around his waist.

From the sound of things, Barboza has no desire to face his friend and teammate even if the title is on the line, but that's not the fight that's in front of him right now so he'll cross that bridge when he comes to it.

"Right now my focus is 100-percent on Gilbert," Barboza said. "I'm very happy Eddie got his belt. I'm not thinking about that right now. I'm just focused on my next fight."

http://www.foxsports.com/ufc/story/...ible-fight-with-teammate-eddie-alvarez-072216
 
Oh yeah I forgot about that. Joe Silva is not going to match him up with any top 5 guys if that is the case.
 
Barboza vs cyborg for 140lb women's vacant belt. Unless barboza Ducks her too.
 
I say make em fight. Still salty we never got the instant classic of Evans/Jardine.
 
Why would Barboza get the titleshot while we have Khabib and Ferguson? Ferguson ran through Barboza
 
He seems to have very low body fat. He could consider going to 170
 
I understand the promoter's side and the fighter's side on issues such as this.

Someone not wanting to fight their friend and someone who helped them get where they are makes total sense, but at the same time a promoter needs fights to promote so they have to come down on fighters who refuse to fight each other.

As for who wins, I'm not sure. I lean toward Barboza but Alvarez could catch him with a hard shot and wrap things up.
 
Well Tony and Khabib are definitely ahead of him in the title picture and Alvarez says he wants winner of Conor/Nate, so for now this shouldn't be a big problem.
 
lol as much as I wanted Eddie to succeed in the UFC he looked horrible against Melendez and Pettis. He has only looked kinda good vs RDA. No need to fight a teammate. Eddie will lose that belt soon enogh.
 
He isn't in a position to get a title shot anyway before Khabib and Tony. There could be a different champion by that time.
 
lol as much as I wanted Eddie to succeed in the UFC he looked horrible against Melendez and Pettis. He has only looked kinda good vs RDA. No need to fight a teammate. Eddie will lose that belt soon enogh.

Yeah, and honestly speaking, he didn't even look that good before he landed the shot that put RDA on skates. He was losing that round handily before the right hand he landed.
 
The winner or loser of Conor or Nate would have an easy night against Eddie. Eddie doesn't have the kicking game to trouble Nate and neither is Eddie stalling against Conor. Nate boxes him up and Conor outright annihilates him.
 
Don't think this is an issue for Barboza. I can't see Eddie keeping that belt long as Barboza probably needs one more big win. Not that I necessarily agree with this but I think we will end up with Eddie V Nate, Khabib v Ferguson & RDA v Barboza
 
Well tony Ferguson beat barboza recently, so no IMO. I put Alveraz would win though as my answer
 
to be honest along as he keeps winning I'm sure he will still get title shpt with the rate that the LW title changes hands and the depth of the LW division it prob won't take long for Eddie to lose the title which would leave a title shot wide open for Barboza if he keeps wining , although the depth of the division also means he could get usurped at any moment for a title shot but if he doesn't want to fight his friend/team mate then that's his choice and we should respect his choice .
 
Alvarez wont hold the belt too long anyway. 1 defense at most.
 
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