UFC 197 takes place not too long for now, but a big matchup has just been added to the card. The card is obviously headlined by the rematch at 205 between former champion Jon Jones and current title holder Daniel Cormier. Also, it has another title fight as Demetrious Johnson takes on Henry Cejudo in his eighth title defense. Now, former champion Anthony pettis looks to rebound after two tough losses as he takes on Lightweight striking dynamo Edson Barboza.
Barboza has been sitting around the top ten for a while in the UFC after he started his UFC career at a 7-1 streak with some big and creative wins. That run was ended by Donald Cerrone and now sits at just 3-2 in his past five fights. The worse of the two losses was to Michael Johnson and he was recently submitted by Tony Ferguson in what people ar calling one of the best matches of 2015. H does hold good wins over Bobby Green, Evan Dunham and Paul Felder in that span. The match with Pettis is a big way for him to show the promotion that he will not choke in the big fights like he has done in the past.
Pettis did capture the UFC title, but his career will always be marred by some big injuries that have taken good chunk of fighting time out of the prime of his career. Pettis originally entered the UFC as the WEC champion and was supposed to fight Frankie Edgar to unify the titles. Unfortunately, a draw with Gray Maynard kept that fight from happening and Pettis was bested by none other than Clay Guida.
A three fight win streak lifted him back into title contention where he faced none other than Benson Henderson for the UFC title, the man he bested for his WEC title. He won in convincing fashion and then took nearly a year off, hosted TUF, and beat Gilbert Melendez. He had a quick turnaround and faced off with Rafael dos Ajos who beat him from pillar to post for his title. Another nine months came until he faced former Bellator champion Eddie Alvarez and was beaten again. Now, three months later he will try to reclaim some of his glory by taking out Edson Barboza in what is sure to be a striking fans favorite match. Who will win this fight?