EDSON Barboza can add another highlight to his reel after landing a spectacular flying knee to finish Beneil Dariush in the second round at UFC Fight Night in Brazil on Sunday (AEDT).
Barboza has made it his business to put on some of the most jaw-dropping performances in the UFC, and his latest knockout is no exception.
The knockout came after a first round that saw Dariush look like he had the perfect game plan to keep Barboza off balance.
Taking a page out of Tony Ferguson’s playbook in the opening round, Dariush stayed on the attack and never allowed Barboza to set his feet, which typically results in one of his blistering kicks being unleashed.
Dariush used constant forward movement to make Barboza circle to try and give himself distance, but he didn’t really find his range until the final minute of the round.
As the second round got underway, Barboza looked much more comfortable on his feet while Dariush seemed to slow down just a bit and that ultimately led to his downfall.
Barboza started timing Dariush’s lead jab where he planted his leg before throwing the punch and that gave him the perfect opening to unleash the hellish knee strike that brought an end to the fight.
UNREAL! @EdsonBarbozaJr is a human highlight reel. Flying Knee to the moon landed on Dariush FTW. #UFCFortalezahttps://t.co/PNJtzlLvz6
— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) March 12, 2017
As soon as Dariush stepped forward with the punch, Barboza launched himself into the air with his knee landing flush on his opponent’s jaw and he was already unconscious before hitting the ground.
The referee rushed in to stop the fight with the bout coming to an end at 3:35 into the second round.
It was Barboza’s third straight win in the UFC with all of his victories coming against either ranked opponents or former champions, which puts him that much closer towards his own goal of holding a title one day.
“I think I’m ready for the belt,” Barboza said after the win.
Given the atmosphere at 155-pounds right now, Barboza may be knocking on the door for that title shot with only a couple of obstacles still left in his way. If he keeps racking up these kinds of finishes, it’s going to be hard for the UFC to deny him much longer.
Holy shit! Barboza with the highlight reel KO! #UFCFortaleza
— Chris Camozzi (@ChrisCamozzi) March 12, 2017
God dam. Barboza is nasty #UFCFortaleza
— Chris Tickle (@badboytickle) March 12, 2017
Edson Barboza just killed that man. pic.twitter.com/kUNeAchy45
— Ben Fowlkes (@benfowlkesMMA) March 12, 2017
Wow another highlight reel knockout by Edson Barboza. Dariush got knocked out #UFCFortaleza
— James Lynch (@LynchOnSports) March 12, 2017
Barbosa vs Dariush fireworks!! Great scrap and a spectacular finish!! #SpeedKills
— Mike Brown (@mikebrownmma) March 12, 2017
Woah! Barboza’s speed isn’t even fair. ⚡️Fast! Hope Dariush is ok. My goodness! #UFCFortaleza
— Kenny Florian (@kennyflorian) March 12, 2017
Meanwhile, Kelvin Gastelum sent a warning to the middleweight division after a stunning display in the UFC Fight Night’s main event.
The former “Ultimate Fighter” winner has long been touted as a top prospect in the UFC, but weight-cutting issues kept Gastelum with a very large asterisk next to his name throughout his troubled times competing at 170-pounds.
While Gastelum was undefeated in the UFC as a middleweight, he still resisted the move up to a new division. But the constant struggles getting down to welterweight eventually forced his hand.
Now in his last two fights at 185-pounds, Gastelum has managed to earn knockouts over two top 10 ranked, opponents including a blistering finish over Vitor Belfort on Sunday (AEDT).
The end came at 3:52 into the first round.
Our @UltimateFighter champ and headliner picks up a huge W over an all-time legend tonight! Congrats @KelvinGastelumhttps://t.co/jlKIJbXsWW
— FS1 (@FS1) March 12, 2017
The victory put Gastelum’s record at 4-0 as a middleweight and it didn’t take the 25-year-old very long after the win to ask for another UFC legend in his next fight.
“There’s a guy really close to me that I know that started a legends ass whooping tour and I want to finish it,” Gastelum said while paying homage to his former “Ultimate Fighter” coach Chael Sonnen. “June 3 I want to go against Anderson [Silva] maybe in Rio. Who knows?”
Silva is coming off a win over top 10 ranked Derek Brunson in his last fight and there’s no doubt he would be a huge addition to the upcoming UFC 212 card in his home country of Brazil. It certainly seems like Gastelum is more than happy to step back into the lion’s den to make the fight happen and possibly avenge Sonnen’s two prior losses to Silva in the Octagon at the same time.
As for Belfort, he has now dropped his last three fights in a row with all of them coming by way of knockout or TKO. While it was tough to drop another fight in Brazil, Belfort says he has at least one more left in him and he hopes to do it when the UFC returns to Rio de Janeiro in June.
“I have one fight left on my contract [with the UFC],” Belfort said. “I’d like to do that fight in my hometown in Rio. We’ll see what’s next, but I want to fight at home.”
Belfort seemed to hint at retirement following his last fight, but perhaps he has designs on one last performance at home in Brazil before bringing his Hall of Fame career to an end.
Sport | news.com.au — Australia’s #1 news site
