Top-ranked lightweight contenders return to action this weekend in Philadelphia, as Edson Barboza faces off against Justin Gaethje.\u00a0 Barboza has recently changed gyms and is now with American Top Team.\u00a0 The decision came after two disappointing losses \u2013 and in his first fight after the switch, he was successful with a knockout victory over Dan Hooker.\u00a0 He looks to continue in the same vein and feels a victory will move him towards a title shot.\u00a0 Gaethje however, is also looking to continue with the sort of performance that gave him a knockout victory over James Vick in his last fight.\u00a0 Between them, these fighters have 13 post-fight bonuses \u2013 so we can expect what might just be the fight of the year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The co-main event features David Branch against Jack Hermansson at 185 lbs.\u00a0 Branch has proven himself to have the skills \u2013 particularly with a knockout win over Thiago Silva last year, but consistency has proven to be his weakness. Hermansson also has a patchy record but will extend a 2- fight win streak if he proves victorious<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rest of fight card<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Josh Emmett vs. Michael Johnson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 145 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lightweight Jessica Aguilar vs. Marina Rodriguez\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 115 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Flyweight Ray Borg vs. Kyler Phillips\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 135 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Featherweight <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Top-ranked lightweight contenders return to action this weekend in Philadelphia, as Edson Barboza faces off against Justin Gaethje.\u00a0 Barboza has recently changed gyms and is now with American Top Team.\u00a0 The decision came after two disappointing losses \u2013 and in his first fight after the switch, he was successful with a knockout victory over Dan…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":978,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/977\/revisions\/978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiveminutesspare.com\/boxingandufc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nKarolina Kowalkiewicz vs. Michelle Waterson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 115 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Flyweight
\nPaul Craig vs. Kennedy Nzechukwu\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 205 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Heavyweight
\nSheymon Moraes vs. Sodiq Yusuff\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 145 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lightweight<\/p>\n
\nDesmond Green vs. Ross Pearson\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 155 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Welterweight
\nKevin Aguilar vs. Enrique Barzola\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 145 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lightweight
\nKevin Holland vs. Gerald Meerschaert\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 185 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Light Heavyweight<\/p>\n
\nMaryna Moroz vs. Sabina Mazo\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0125 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bantamweight
\nMark De La Rosa vs. Alex Perez\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 135 lbs\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Featherweight<\/p>\n