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Round 1: Makwan Amirkhani went sprinting forward but he stopped abruptly. UFC veteran Edson Barboza was moving forward. Edson Barboza threw a kick to the thigh and moved carefully away from Amirkhani's feints. Barboza hit two shots the body and two kicks before narrowly avoiding a jumping knee
Edson Barboza evaded him quickly and was constantly moving around the Octagon. Amirkhani stood firm on a big right hand from the Brazilian Edson Barboza. Amirkhani landed a takedown with 5 seconds left.
Round 2: Amirkhani did better in the second round, using his lead hand. Edson Barboza had to carefully pick his shots but knocked him down clean before wrapping his arms underneath Amirkhani's arm. Amirkhaniw as seemingly holding his gloves as Barboza complained to the referee when asked to work.
Amirkhani found himself back in the same position - down on the ground with Barboza's hands wrapped around. Amirkhani got up and with thirty seconds left, he got knocked down again. Barboza tried to grip him into submission but Amirkhani escaped.
Amirkhani landed a desperation takedown and couldn't do much with it as it was right at the end of the round.
Round 3: Edson Barboza landed a counter-body shot early on. Barboza got Amirkhani in a compromising position on the ground and was looking to get the Kimura. Amirkhani reversed the positon but wasn't' doing much with it.
Amirkhani was told to work and he landed a small elbow. Edson Barboza was clinching hard to make sure that it would force a stand-up. They stood up and Edson Barboza threw a left hand that stunned Amirkhani momentarily. The last thirty seconds saw Amirkhani go down again, with Barboza missing a spinning kick. Edson Barboza landed a body shot and it wrapped up a clinical performance for the Brazilian.
Edson Barboza def. Makwan Amirkhani by unanimous decision ( 30-26, 30-27, 29-28)
A first Featherweight win for Edson Barboza
Edson Barboza said that the fight played out the way he expected to. He said that he wants to be a Champion at Featherweight and asked for a Top 5 or 6 ranked opponent.
This marked Edson Barboza's first win since December 2018, where he outclassed Dan Hooker at Lightweight.
