Edson Barboza
Lightweights booked for May 26 card at MGM Grand
The UFC’s annual Memorial Day weekend card in Las Vegas has another addition to it with the announcement of a new lightweight bout.
Evan Dunham and Edson Barboza will meet on the May 26 card, scheduled to be the UFC 146 pay-per-view, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. UFC president Dana White announced the fight on his Twitter account.
Dunham (13-2, 6-2 UFC) is coming off a TKO win over Nik Lentz at last month’s UFC on Fox card in Chicago, in which he badly bloodied his opponent and forced a doctor’s stoppage after two rounds. That win was his second straight after suffering back-to-back losses – the first two losses of his career.
Prior to his win over Lentz, Dunham dominated Shamar Bailey in September to win a unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 25 in New Orleans. At UFC 119, Dunham dropped a split decision to Sean Sherk that even White said wasn’t going to be considered a loss by the UFC. But in January 2011 at the UFC’s Fight for the Troops 2 show, Dunham ran into a red-hot Melvin Guillard, who beat him with a first-round TKO.
Barboza (10-0, 4-0 UFC) will look to remain unbeaten – and will look to keep his Fight of the Night streak rolling. The Brazilian has won three straight Fight of the Night bonuses, and in his last time out, at UFC 142 in Brazil last month, he doubled up with a Knockout of the Night win over Terry Etim with a rare spinning wheel kick. The double bonus gave Barboza four fight-night awards in four UFC bouts.
Though not official, UFC 146 is expected to feature a main event heavyweight title fight between champ Junior dos Santos and challenger Alistair Overeem. The UFC has also announced a middleweight bout between Jason “Mayhem” Miller and C.B. Dollaway.