It wasn’t just the fans who ended up confused by Edson Barboza’s knockout win over Shane Burgos at UFC 262. From the sound of things, Barboza himself isn’t too sure about quite what happened in the final seconds of their PPV bout. After Burgos’ six-second delayed reaction to the KO punch, the Brazilian had to ask his coaches what he did to end the contest.
In an interview with Combate, Barboza explained that he isn’t sure where the fight-ending punch had landed, but was happy to win anyway. Although Edson is no stranger to delayed reactions, he had never seen someone take that long to go down after a shot, which was what surprised him the most.
“I had seen (delayed reactions) before, but not like that. When the fight was over, I asked my coaches: ‘What happened? Where did I hit him?’ I swear I didn’t remember. It was a six-second delay? Wow, I didn’t know that. I saw the started to lose his balance a bit, then again and again, until he went down. That’s when I finished the fight. It was a surprise to me.”
Now on a two-fight winning streak at featherweight, all Barboza is focused on is another chance to climb the ladder towards the belt. In fact, it seems like he’s already comfortable enough in the division to take on any man in the top 5.
“I want to fight the best. I’ve beaten Dan Ige (officially, Barboza lost a split decision), I’ve defeated two top 10 names. I want to keep on climbing the rankings and fighting the best, so one day I can have a chance to become the champion. I want anyone in the top 5.”
Before the win over Burgos, Edson Barboza (22-9) had picked up his first featherweight win with a unanimous decision victory over Makwan Amirkhani, back in October 2020. In his debut at the weight class, the 35-year-old dropped a split decision to Dan Ige, in May of the same year. That loss marked his 3rd in a row, going back to a lightweight KO defeat to Justin Gaethje in the main event of UFC on ESPN 2.
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