Preview! ‘Your Idols Become Your Rivals’

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is just a couple of hours away from its UFC Vegas 81 main event between Top 15 contenders Sodiq Yusuff and Edson Barboza, a featherweight showdown that pops off TONIGHT (Sat., Oct. 14, 2023) at APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Check out their fight video preview embedded above.

Yusuff (13-2), seven years younger than Barboza at age 30 (but ranked two spots higher at No. 11), cut his teeth on Dana White’s “Contender Series” back in summer 2018 and has since put together an exceptional 6-1 record with three first-round finishes.

Barboza (23-11) blasted his way back into the win column by smashing Billy Quarantillo with a first-round flying knee at the UFC Kansas City event last April. The 37 year-old Brazilian, a former lightweight, has been competing in UFC for nearly 13 years.

Only one can prevail this weekend in “Sin City.”

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 81 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the ESPN+ preliminary card bouts at 4 p.m. ET, followed by the ESPN+ main card start time at 7 p.m. ET.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 81 news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive here. For the updated and finalized “Yusuff vs. Barboza” fight card and ESPN+ line up click here.