Weekly MMA News Round-Up: A title fight that wasn't meant to be

#10 Khabib Nurmagomedov signs contract and will face Edson Barboza at UFC 219

Khabib is back

As we first reported to you last week, Edson Barboza said he was offered Khabib Nurmagomedov for UFC 219. And so he was. News broke this week that Khabib had signed his bout agreement and all was good to go.

For one these top 3 Lightweight contenders, a title shot will surely be awaiting the winner...assuming that Conor McGregor and Tony Ferguson fight to unify their titles.

Author's take

It's great to see the Lightweight division moving at the top again. Things have been relatively stagnant ever since the UFC gifted Conor McGregor with a title shot against Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.

The matchup between Khabib and Barboza is your classic grappler vs striker. We know what each plans to do and it will be interesting to see who can do there thing to the other. Pressure hasn't been Barboza's friend in the past and Khabib provides a lot of that for his opponents. The Dagestani destroyer has been unstoppable in his 24-0 career and Barboza will need to keep things standing if he hopes to have any chance.

You would imagine that Barboza's lightning fast leg kicks will be huge in this fight as we've never really seen Khabib get leg kicked very much. Probably because of the threat of takedowns... Due to Barboza's speed, he should avoid being able to get timed during one of these kicks but after so much repetition you're bound to get caught. He will definitely want to mix up his attack.

---

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below and follow me on Twitter: @Dre_Kriggs