UFC 262 Preview: Shane Burgos – Edson Barboza

Nov 2, 2019; New York, NY, USA; Shane Burgos (red gloves) defeats Makwan Amirkani (blue gloves) during UFC 244 at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Sarah Stier-USA TODAY Sports

Tomorrow night on the main card of UFC 262, we are going to see a fun matchup in the featherweight division. Top fifteen contenders will battle it out as “Hurricane” Shane Burgos (13-2) takes on Edson Barboza (21-9).

This is the first fight in almost a year for Shane Burgos. The last time we saw him, he was on the losing end of a decision in his fight against Josh Emmett. Their war was one of the UFC‘s fights of the year in 2020.

That loss snapped a three-fight win streak for Burgos. Burgos made his UFC debut back in 2016 and since making his debut with the promotion he’s gone 6-2. His two losses have come against Emmett and Calvin Kattar.

Burgos has really good boxing and a solid overall skillset. However, he’s run into trouble the two times he’s faced some of the elite guys of the division. While his ranking might not suggest it, Edson Barboza is elite especially on the feet.

Barboza is making his third appearance in the UFC‘s featherweight division after spending his career at lightweight. So far, he’s 1-1 with a loss to Dan Ige although many believe that Barboza won that fight.

Barboza is just 3-5 in his last eight fights. However, the losses were to Dan Ige, Paul Felder, Justin Gaethje, Kevin Lee, and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Some of the best in the sport. During that stretch he also holds TKO victories over Beneil Dariush and Dan Hooker.

The last time we saw Barboza was on Fight Island against Makwan Amirkhani. He picked up the win and the UFC gave him a new contract after the fight was over. Barboza is looking for a big win tomorrow night.

UFC 262 Prediction

As mentioned, Shane Burgos has really good hands and he does have some power. We’ve seen Barboza get hurt on the feet before so Shane Burgos’ power is definitely something to watch out for at UFC 262.

When thinking about this fight, I keep going back to where Burgos has struggled. He’s struggled against guys who could beat him to the punch and guys who outstruck him. I would be shocked if Burgos completely outstruck Barboza at UFC 262.

I believe tomorrow night the kicks are going to play a huge factor in the fight. Barboza is one of the best kickers in the business and I think he shows off tomorrow. I’m expecting a signature featherweight win for Edson Barboza at UFC 262.

Prediction: Edson Barboza by TKO – Round 2