UFC featherweight Edson Barboza honored with mural in his hometown

UFC featherweight contender Edson Barboza has been honored with a mural in Brazil.

The Brazilian has been in the UFC for nearly 15 years, making his promotional debut in 2010. Barboza spent the majority of his run at lightweight but moved down to featherweight in 2020. While he lost his debut to Dan Ige, he quickly rattled off wins over Makwan Amirkhani and Shane Burgos.

However, an August 2021 clash with Giga Chikadze saw the Brazilian’s win streak at 145 pounds snapped. He was then booked against Bryce Mitchell for UFC 272 in March 2022. ‘Thug Nasty’ entered the contest 14-0, having recently defeated Andre Fili.

The Arkansas native wound up winning by unanimous decision, the biggest victory of his career thus far. Since then, Barboza has been out of action, but not for a lack of effort. He was slated to face Ilia Topuria in October but withdrew due to a knee injury.

Currently, Edson Barboza doesn’t have a fight scheduled. Regardless of his ongoing losing streak, the Brazilian is still among one of the most entertaining athletes on the roster. Along with that, he holds victories over names such as Anthony Pettis, Gilbert Melendez, Beneil Dariush, and more.

It’s likely thanks to that track record, that the featherweight contender was honored with a mural in Nova Friburgo. Barboza hails from the city in Brazil and continues to live there. Earlier today, he took to Instagram to show the mural of himself painted in his hometown.

The piece shows a portrait of Edson Barboza wearing UFC gloves, as well as throwing a leg kick.

 

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A post shared by Edson Barboza Jr (@edsonbarbozajr)

What do you make of this news? Who do you want to see the Brazilian fight next? What do you think of his mural? Sound off in the comment section below PENN Nation!