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Edson Barboza came up on the wrong end of a split-decision loss to Dan Ige last Sat. night (May 16, 2020) at UFC on ESPN 8 after 15 minutes of back-and-forth Featherweight action inside Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida (recap here).
It was a devastating loss to say the least, especially since Barboza — and many others — felt he did enough to get the nod. According to the Brazilian striker, even UFC president Dana White told him afterward that he believed he did enough in his eyes to get the all-important “W.” That’s why Edson now wants the promotion to show him some love and cut him a check for his “win” bonus.
“For me, what’s important right now is for UFC to come to me and say I won the fight, like Dana White said,” said Edson in a recent interview with Ariel Helwani. “Dana White said I won the fight. It is very important to me if the company comes to me, I don’t care about the commission, but it’s important for me and my family to show me respect, for my job, for the company to tell me ‘You won the fight and we want to pay you.’
“I think this is very important for me right now. If this don’t happen, I am going to sit down and think about, ‘Hey, does it make sense to do this if the company don’t show respect, don’t show love for me?’”
Barboza banked $79,000 (show money) as a result of the loss, which would’ve doubled had one of the other judges gone the other way. With that kind of scratch on the line, it’s understandable why Barboza and many others take controversial losses to heart. While Edson admits he can live with a loss on his record if he deserved it, getting his pay cut in half as a result of incompetent scoring is something he simply isn’t having.
“I don’t care about the commission, and “L,” if UFC comes to me and say, “We want to pay you because 99-percent of the people know you won the fight and the company knows you won the fight.’ I think that is going to be important for me to see what my step is in the future.”
Edson is determined to return to action sometime in July, and says he will fight at either Featherweight or Lightweight. But if UFC matchmakers want him to make the grueling cut down to 145 pounds again, they have to show him some love first. If not, the 23-UFC fight veteran says he’ll probably just take a fight at 155 pounds or even Welterweight.
“Give me my win bonus and a contract to fight anyone in July.”
The show/win pay structure UFC has refused to budge from has been a hot topic for years now, which is one of the reasons several fighters have opted to compete elsewhere once their time with UFC comes to an end.
While there are champions, box office draws and a select few ex-title holders who command flat rates, the majority of UFC fighters have to pull out the victory if they want to see their full pay in their bank accounts come Monday morning,
The loss to Ige marked Barboza’s third straight defeat, with the previous two coming at 155 pounds. As far as “junior’s” pay request, if the promotion is willing to give someone their show and win money to simply “go away,” wouldn’t it make sense to throw one of its most-exciting combatants a bone to stay?