Edson Barboza is ready to follow the tracks of Stemm and Face the Pain when he takes on Justin “The Highlight” Gaethje in two days at UFC Philadelphia.
In a recent interview, Justin Gaethje expressed that signing up for a fight against him is not for the faint of heart and requires one to essentially enroll for the most painful experience of their life, something that Gaethje believes some fighters, namely Al Iaquinta, may not be willing to endure. Well, Edson Barboza is not one of those fighters:
“I don’t worry about the damage,” Barboza told MMA Fighting. “If I thought about the damage, I’d go to be a doctor or, I don’t know, do something different. I’m a fighter. This is my whole life. I’ve [been taking] damage my whole life. I’m a Muay Thai fighter. I think I’ve had close to 1,000 stitches in my face. I’m definitely not worried about the damage. A couple years ago I remember I had my fights against Tony Ferguson and Paul Felder, (they were in conversations for) fights of the year. I have them too. That makes me very excited.
“I’m ready for pain, 25 minutes.”
Indeed, Edson Barboza has certainly proven he has a high threshold for pain in recent bouts against Khabib Nurmagomedov and Kevin Lee. And when Barboza faces Justin Gaethje at UFC Philadelphia, he understands that an intent of pain infliction will continue to press forward and he is ready to meet fire and fire and emerge the last man standing:
“I feel very comfortable that I’m a different Edson Barboza the last couple of fights,” Barboza said. “You guys have seen [my] last fight against a guy who puts pressure on everybody? Dan Hooker, he puts pressure on everybody, but I stopped that guy.”
“It’s going to be a big war,” Barboza said. “And I’ll win.”
If Edson Barboza vs. Justin Gaethje turns out to be a fire fight at UFC Philadelphia, who do you believe will emerge victorious?
