Edson Barboza vs Anthony Pettis Highlights (Barboza BEATS Pettis)

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Edson Barboza faced Anthony Pettis on April 23, 2016, at UFC 197.

While Barboza's three-round win was a mild upset—Pettis was a -175 favorite entering the bout, per Odds Shark—it wasn't entirely unpredictable, and it speaks to both the improvements Barboza had made over the last several years and the former lightweight champion's ongoing issues.

More than anything else, this was a triumph of Barboza's meat-and-potatoes fundamentals and commitment to scoring. The Brazilian's incredible speed and predilection for spinning strikes obscure the fact he has a clear and ever-improving command of the basics. Jabs to the body, inside low kicks and tight footwork, were the difference between him winning a 30-27 decision and losing a razor-thin contest.

Where Pettis spent much of the fight moving at range while looking for the fight-finishing strike, Barboza scored. He too looked for the finisher, but he did so while piling up damage to Pettis' body and legs in the meantime. The inside low kicks in particular were brilliant: Barboza consistently waited to throw them until Pettis put all his weight down on his lead leg, and the results were clear.

Throwing a body jab and two or three inside low kicks every minute might not sound like much, but think about how much damage that is over the course of 15 minutes. By the end of the fight, the inside of Pettis' left thigh consisted of a nightmarish bruise, and the damage to the body contributed to the former champion landing fewer strikes in the third than in the other fight frames, as FightMetric pointed out. Bleacher Report's Brian Oswald noted Pettis' severe thigh bruise:


To be fair, Pettis did some good things. He threw more strikes than he has in the past and did a better job of moving after throwing. That kept him off the fence, though Barboza was mostly content to work in the middle of the cage.

At the end of the day, however, Barboza beat Pettis precisely where the former champion was supposed to be strongest.