Is fighting Michael Johnson a "lose lose" for Edson Barboza?

standandtrade7

standandtrade7

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It seems like an unfortunate matchup because it stuns the momentum of whoever loses. It seems like it was made this way because the LW landscape is so dense with talent. Barboza just swept #6 and is now fighting #10. This is also a much more dangerous fight for Barboza, Johnson is a dangerous guy who could KO anyone.

In addition, it has come to my attention that these guys are friends and neither was jumping at the prospect of fighting the other. Barboza wanted to fight the Alvarez-Bendo winner, and Michael Johnson wanted Masvidal. Hopefully them having trained together doesn't influence the fight itself. Although Barboza used to live and train with Dunham and seemed ok hurting him.

Here is my question. If Barboza wins, is he in any better a place than he is right now? He is currently #6. Or is this fight a lose lose for him?

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apart from a W, a notch on his resume. Johnson may be behind in the rankings but that's partly due to his inactivity. Johnson is a good win.
 
Aside from another notch and fotn, no. It doesn't boost his ranking and he could lose, MJ is a good dude that is ever improving
 
I think more fighters should take page out of Donald Cerrone book. Fight as often as possible if your skills are that good. You both earn more money and make UFC pay attention to you.

As for the fight itself, Michael Johnson is no joke. He's like Bobby Green but with better footwork and willingness to actually engage. So no, it's not lose-lose.
 
M Raid K said:
I think more fighters should take page out of Donald Cerrone book. Fight as often as possible if your skills are that good. You both earn more money and make UFC pay attention to you.

As for the fight itself, Michael Johnson is no joke. He's like Bobby Green but with better footwork and willingness to actually engage. So no, it's not lose-lose.
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I think Green's footwork and head movement are superior, but he tossed footwork out the window in his fight with Barboza because he was so hell bent on rushing in to close the distance. In a way, it was similar to Cormier-Jones in the sense that Cormier has decent footwork but altered his style to plot forward and pressure and paid the price.

Johnson has way more KO power than Green, but if you watch his fights, he is easy to tag. Green was very difficult to tag and Barboza still tagged him.
 
Johnson had a high stock after his last fight.
 
M Raid K said:
I think more fighters should take page out of Donald Cerrone book. Fight as often as possible if your skills are that good. You both earn more money and make UFC pay attention to you.

As for the fight itself, Michael Johnson is no joke. He's like Bobby Green but with better footwork and willingness to actually engage. So no, it's not lose-lose.
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Barboza starts pleading with the UFC for a fight as soon as he finishes his last one. If you follow him on twitter or facebook, he tweets the UFC almost daily to say he's ready and ask for fights but it still takes him forever to get one. He is in camp now and his son was just born like three weeks ago.
 
There are so many guys infront of him for the title that it doesn't matter if he fights the #5 or #10 he needs to keep winning for a long time to get a title shot and i don't think many would give him a big chance of winning a title
 
PivotPunch said:
There are so many guys infront of him for the title that it doesn't matter if he fights the #5 or #10 he needs to keep winning for a long time to get a title shot and i don't think many would give him a big chance of winning a title
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I kinda disagree. Im not saying he deserves a shot, or that he would after another win, but Barboza maintains active and has never pulled out of a fight before. He is always mentioning he's ready to fight at any time, and you have such an advantage with the UFC if you are the guy who finishes fights. One or two more brutal finishes in a row, and I bet he leap frogs a lot of guys who have earned it more.
 
15-8 doesn't look impressive to casual fight fans, but his win streak is against solid competition. I think that barboza and johnson are in the same position rankings wise and the winner should get a top 5 next fight.
 
Johnson is a better fighter than Barboza just because he hasn't fought in a while is only reason he is behind in rankings(which who really gives a fuck about)

I don't know where Bobby Green's head was at for his fight with Barboza but he basically gifted Edson his ranking.
 
trblesome1 said:
Johnson is a better fighter than Barboza just because he hasn't fought in a while is only reason he is behind in rankings(which who really gives a fuck about)

I don't know where Bobby Green's head was at for his fight with Barboza but he basically gifted Edson his ranking.
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Bobby Green was fine, every bit of trouble he had can be attributed to Barboza.
 
Love this fight,two great strikers. This will be great stand up war
 
You could've said the same about Bobby Green when he fought Barboza, that's just how the matchups go. And the reality is Edson just got choked out by Cowboy 9 months ago and Pettis already has his next few challengers lined up. It's technically a step down in terms of rankings, but Edson needs to show he can put a winning streak together against top competition.
 
Barboza has already been finished twice in the first round when he stepped up and the Bobby Green fight wasn't that impressive Bobby didn't do anything.

Barboza isn't at a number one contender's fight yet, this is a good fight to see if he really deserves to take that step up to the true elites
 
Selukrid612 said:
You could've said the same about Bobby Green when he fought Barboza, that's just how the matchups go. And the reality is Edson just got choked out by Cowboy 9 months ago and Pettis already has his next few challengers lined up. It's technically a step down in terms of rankings, but Edson needs to show he can put a winning streak together against top competition.
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This, Green was in the exact same disposition as Barboza was ranked lower than him.

Barboza has been finished in the first round twice when he stepped up, this is a good fight to see if he's ready to take that step up to the elites. Like you said he needs to show he can rack up wins against this level of opposition before he can be viewed as a serious contender
 
trane said:
the Bobby Green fight wasn't that impressive Bobby didn't do anything.
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I disagree. Bobby Green was undefeated and looking to stifle Barboza by pressuring him, you know, like all you guys say "He can't fight when he's pressured" "He can't fight going backwards".

However, Edson showed greatly improved footwork and landed most of his significant strikes while on his back foot. His offense and damage is solely responsible for Bobby green not doing anything.

Also, check the stats, Bobby Green is top 5 at LW in both striking accuracy and strike differential. Edson stifled him with a few kicks and completely nullified his offense. That is impressive.
 
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