UFC: Jeremy Stephens – Edson Barboza to headline Fight Night on October 3rd

Jeremy Stephens

The UFC is putting together an absolute banger together for the main event of their Fight Night on October 3rd. According to multiple reports, UFC featherweights Jeremy Stephens (28-18, 1 NC) and Edson Barboza (20-9) will be going head-to-head.

These two are two of the more exciting fighters in the UFC‘s lower weight classes. They’ve both spent time at lightweight and featherweight, but have never crossed paths until now.

UFC Striking War

If you’re a fan of striking, this should be a fun one to watch. Barboza is going to throw a lot of flashy techniques with lightening speed while Stephens will look to uncork ungodly power that will cause Barboza to be staring at the lights.

Both of these two UFC favorites are on a really bad skid over the last few years. For Barboza he enters the octagon on October 3rd on a current stretch of 1-5 in his last six fights.

His last two fights were split decision losses. After competing at lightweight his full UFC career, Barboza dropped down to featherweight to take on Dan Ige back in May. Barboza looked great early even dropping Ige, but would fade and drop a decision.

The fight was razor close and many did believe that Barboza won the fight. It was a good sign that he looked decent in his first cut to featherweight.

Like Barboza, Stephens enters the octagon on his own skid. Stephens knocked out Josh Emmett back in early 2018, but since then, he’s gone 0-4, 1 NC in five fights.

Granted, all of the guys he has fought are top five guys in their respected divisions. Stephens last fought at UFC 249 where he was knocked out by Calvin Kattar.

This is a matchup with a ton of implications. A win for either man gets them going back in the right direction. A loss could really force one of them to evaluate where they are in their career. Should be a fun one to kick off October.

UFC: Germaine de Randamie – Juliana Pena on tap October 3rd fight night

The UFC is close to finalizing a key women’s bantamweight matchup for their October 3rd fight night card. Per MMA Fighting, Germaine de Randamie (9-4) will take on Juliana Pena (9-3) in a matchup of top five bantamweights.

Next UFC title challenger?

The winner of this matchup could determine who will get the next shot at the UFC‘s bantamweight title. For de Randamie, she’s gone 6-2 in her UFC career with her two losses coming against the champion, Amanda Nunes.

The two ladies fought back in December for the bantamweight title with Nunes taking the unanimous decision victory. De Randamie did have some bright spots in the last fight.

It will be interesting to see what the UFC does if de Randamie goes on to win this fight. She’s already ranked at the top of the division, but she does have two losses to the current champion so it would be difficult booking a third matchup.

For Pena, the October 3rd fight will be her first fight of 2020 and just her second fight since the beginning of 2017. In her UFC career, she’s gone 5-1 with her lone loss coming to UFC flyweight champion, Valentina Shevchenko.

Both of these women are elite and it’ll be interesting to see how this one plays out. De Randamie is arguably the most decorated striker in the division while Pena is very good on the ground. A clash of styles for the October 3rd Fight Night.