Edson Barboza, Dan Ige booked to collide in Jacksonville

The UFC’s week-long celebration of the end of its coronavirus-related shutdown keeps getting better. The latest bout to be added to the list is a May 16 featherweight fight between long-time lightweight contender Edson Barboza and rising star Dan Ige.

News of this booking was first reported by Raphael Marinho of Combate.

Edson Barboza will enter this dynamite matchup with a razor close split decision loss to Paul Felder and a knockout loss to Justin Gaethje in the rear-view. Both of these losses occurred in the lightweight division, where he’s spent the duration of his UFC career thus far. Barboza’s current skid was preceded by a brutal victory over Dan Hooker and a pair of losses to Kevin Lee and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Highlights of Barboza’s impressive 20-8 record include wins over Beneil Dariush, Gilbert Melendez, Anthony Pettis, Paul Felder, Bobby Green, Danny Castillo, Ross Pearson, and a knockout win over Terry Etim that resides among the very best in UFC history.

Dan Ige will enter this fight with Barboza, which is easily the biggest test of his career so far, having gone a solid 5-1 in the UFC. After losing his promotional debut to Julio Arce, the Contender Series product rattled off consecutive wins over Mike Santiago, Jordan Griffin, Danny Henry, Kevin Aguilar, and most recently, Mirsad Bektic.

This May 16, which will go own in Jacksonville, Florida, will be headlined by a heavyweight scrap between Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris. Expect more bouts to be announced for the card in the coming days.

Who do you think will win when Edson Barboza and Dan Ige collide in Jacksonville?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 4/27/2020.