UFC Fight Night 230 Fight Card: Edson Barboza is Back!

What a year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship! And the best is yet to come. Next week, we have UFC 294, which has arguably one of the best cards ever. Before that, we have one more fight night and for a small event, it is actually a banger. Here is everything we know about the UFC Fight Night 230 fight card.

UFC Fight Night 230 Fight Card: Everything You Need To Know

For a fight night, this UFC fight card has almost everything. We have some certified legends, former title contenders, and a bunch of young guns who are hungry for success. This will be a good event to warm us up for the unbelievable card next week.

UFC Fight Night 230 Co-Main and Main Events

Featherweight: Sodiq Yusuff vs Edson Barboza
Women's Flyweight: Jennifer Maia vs Viviane Araujo

Most of us thought that Barboza's career was over a few years ago but at 37, the UFC legend continues to love the game and wants to fight. He beat Billy Quarantillo earlier this year, which was rather surprising, and is hungry for more. Sodiq Yusuff is one of the hottest prospects in the Featherweight division right now and with a record of 13-2, he will be a tough match for Barboza.

The co-main event of the UFC Fight Night 230 fight card will be entirely Brazilian-based with two female veterans in a clash for a spot in the Top 10 in the Women's Flyweight division. Jennifer Maia once fought for the title and lost and generally, all of her defeats have been against Top 5 fighters. She recently beat a couple of young prospects, so she has proven that she still has it in her.

Viviane Araujo never made it to the top in the UFC but she remains dangerous. This is a huge opportunity for both fighters to climb the ladder as the title is currently locked for all contenders. The winner here will probably land a big fight with a fighter from the top of the division next.

UFC Fight Night 230 Main Card

• Featherweight: Sodiq Yusuff (13-2-0) vs Edson Barboza (23-11-0)
• Women's Flyweight: Jennifer Maia (21-9-1) vs Viviane Araujo (11-5-0)
• Bantamweight: Jonathan Martinez (18-4-0) vs Adrian Yanez (16-4-0)
• Middleweight: Andre Petroski (10-2-0) vs Michel Pereira (28-11-0)
• Catchweight: Edgar Chairez (10-5-0) vs Daniel Lacerda (11-5-0)
• Bantamweight: Christian Rodriguez (9-1-0) vs Cameron Saaiman (9-0-0)

The Bantamweight division is one of the most competitive ranks in the UFC and we have two ranked fighters in the third fight of the evening. Adrian Yanez remains unbeaten in the UFC after he won all five of his bouts to date. He won four out of five with early finishes. His opponent, Jonathan Martinez, won eight of his last ten bouts in the UFC and is also on a 4-win streak.

In another bout from the UFC Fight Night 230 fight card, Michel Pereira will make his middleweight debut against the tough Andre Petroski. The important fact here is that Petroski accepted this fight on short notice. Pereira is on a 5-win streak in welterweight, so it will be interesting to see him in a different division.

In a curious situation, Edgar Chairez and Daniel Lacerda will meet for the second time after their match in September was stopped by mistake. Back then, the referee decided to stop the fight because Lacerda seemed to be out but he was not. Matchmakers immediately scheduled a rematch.

UFC Fight Night 230 Prelims

• Featherweight: Darren Elkins (27-11-0) vs TJ Brown (17-10-0)
• Women's Bantamweight: Tainara Lisboa (6-2-0) vs Ravena Oliveira (7-1-1)
• Lightweight: Terrance McKinney (14-6-0) vs Brendon Marotte (8-1-0)
• Women's Bantamweight: Irina Alekseeva (5-1-0) vs Melissa Dixon (5-0-0)
• Bantamweight: Chris Gutierrez (19-4-2) vs Alatengheili (16-8-1)
• Women's Strawweight: Ashley Yoder (8-8-0) vs Emily Ducote (12-8-0)

The UFC fight card this weekend is one of the rare ones that are abundant in women's MMA. There will be a total of four fights and three are in the prelims.

Tainara Lisboa will have her second UFC fight after an impressive debut in May and she will face a new debutant – Ravena Oliveira. We do not yet know too much about these two young fighters but we expect an early stoppage, unlike most bouts in the women's divisions.

Irina Alekseeva vs Melissa Dixon is another bout between young prospects on the UFC Fight Night 230 fight card. Irina made her debut with a massive win over Stephanie Egger and will face an unbeaten debutant in Dixon.

In the opening bout of the UFC fight card tonight, we have two of the unfortunate punching bags of the Women's Strawweight division. Emily Ducote is a former Invicta champion but in the UFC, she is 1-3. Ashley Yoder has been in the UFC since 2016 and in this period, she has fought only ten times. Seven of those ten bouts, she lost.

To finish the UFC Fight Night 230 fight card, we can discuss the bout between Terrance McKinney and Brendon Marotte. While Terrance was supposed to be one of the hottest prospects after his debut, he has amassed a 3-3 record since then. This is a great opportunity for him to win an easy match as his opponent is both a debutant and coming on short notice. If Terrance can't win this fight, we doubt that he will have a great future in the UFC.