After suffering his first career loss, Edson Barboza hopes to rebound at the upcoming UFC on FX 7 event, but his scheduled fight has seen a change following an injury to opponent Justin Salas.
Instead of facing the American, Barboza will take on fellow Brazilian Lucas Martins at January 19’s UFC on FX 7 card, the UFC confirmed on Wednesday.
Barboza will be fighting for the first time since losing to Jamie Varner in a May 2012 upset, which came via first-round TKO. Prior to that, he’d been a perfect 10-0.
After having his perfect run shattered, Barboza will look to exact some revenge by halting Martins’ unbeaten run.
Martins, who is 24 years old and trains with Chute Boxe, is 11-0 after a prolific 2012, during which he fought and won nine times. He won twice alone in December.
The bout with Barboza, though, will mark his major MMA debut.
UFC on FX 7 emanates from Sao Paulo, Brazil, and features a main event of Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping.