Three years ago, Evan Dunham and Edson Barboza were considered two of the most promising fighters in the UFC’s lightweight division.
Fast forward to Wednesday night and both are in dire need of a victory as they square off in the co-main event at UFC Fight Night: Cerrone vs Miller.
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Watch UFC Fight Night: Cerrone vs Miller starting at 7 p.m. EST on Sportsnet 360
In January 2011, the Xtreme Couture-trained Dunham was headlining the first UFC card of his career against Melvin Guillard at UFC Fight For The Troops 2. At the time, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt was coming off a controversial split decision loss to Sean Sherk at UFC 119. This was an opportunity to propel himself into the lightweight title picture. Despite being a two-to-one favourite, Dunham made the mistake of engaging in a standup battle with Guillard and paid the price. He suffered his first career stoppage loss as Guillard knocked him out in the first round. Since the loss, the 32-year-old has been plagued by injuries and gone a forgettable 3-3 — in fairness his losses were to top contenders T.J. Grant, Donald Cerrone and Rafael dos Anjos. Both of these factors have made him an afterthought in the lightweight division.
Like Dunham, Barboza in 2011 was thought to be the future of the lightweight division with pundits comparing the dynamic striker to UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo. He was coming off his consecutive Fight of the Night performances award as he edged out Ross Pearson and Anthony Njokuani. In 2012, the Brazilian would go viral with his spinning wheel kick knockout of Terry Etim at UFC 142. The highlight reel finish garnered so much attention that it earned a nomination for “Best Play” at the 2012 ESPY awards.
Interestingly enough, Barboza was scheduled to face Dunham in his next fight at UFC 146, but Dunham pulled out due to injury. Replacing Dunham on short notice was former WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner and this is where things took a turn for the worse. Despite being a heavy favorite, Barboza was knocked out for the first time in his career as Varner stopped him in the first round. Since the loss, the 28-year-old has gone an impressive 3-1 run. However his decision victory over Danny Castillo in December was controversial and in his last fight he was submitted by Cerrone. In that bout, the Brazilian was rocked by a jab, which lead to the submission and questions began to emerge about the durability of his chin.
With six Fight of the Night awards between the two of them, fans can expect an exciting lightweight encounter with Barboza being the favourite. Dunham’s strength has always been his wrestling and submission game. But Barboza has shown he can hang with high level wrestlers and avoid submissions like he did in his bout with Castillo.
Expect a sense of urgency from both guys as they look to earn an impressive victory Wednesday. With former contenders like Diego Sanchez and Gray Maynard on the decline, an impressive win for either Dunham or Barboza will help them avoid falling down a similar path.
