Products You May Like
Dan Ige’s sixth straight win was his toughest and one of his most impressive, as he won a hard-fought split decision over debuting featherweight Edson Barboza.
Scores were 29-28 twice and 28-29 for the No. 15-ranked Ige, now 14-2. Barboza, the former lightweight contender, falls to 20-9.
Ige aggressively chased Barboza with an effective punching attack as the fight opened, but after taking a few shots, Barboza dropped his foe with a right hand. Ige weathered the follow-up barrage and got back to his feet, going right to work again with his strikes. Barboza eventually started getting his kicking game in gear, and his punches upstairs cut Ige and staggered him briefly.
Continuing to get in Barboza’s face, Ige came out swinging in round two, and while he took a couple kicks for his trouble, he was undeterred. A right hand midway through the round rattled the now bloodied Barboza, but only for a second, as he kept firing vicious kicks at the Hawaiian. In the final minute, the fight went to the mat, Barboza throwing several hard strikes from the top position.
Barboza seemed to finally slow Ige down in the final round, but with 1:15 left, it was Ige scoring a big takedown that allowed him to get some strikes off as he kept the Brazilian trapped against the fence.