Cape Town - A very entertaining lightweight match-up is being targeted for the July 23 UFC on Fox card set to take place in Chicago with Gilbert Melendez set to take on Edson Barboza.
Barboza (17-4) is coming off of his biggest octagon win at UFC 197 where he beat former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis via unanimous decision. Always considered to be the future of the lightweight division Barboza has lost important fights to Michael Johnson, Donald Cerrone, and Tony Ferguson which may or may not have thrown him into title contention.
Prior to UFC 197, Barboza had won three of his last five over Bobby Green, Evan Dunham, and Paul Felder. Aiming for a 155-pound title run in 2016, Barboza will jump up into contention with a win over a former two-time UFC title contender.
Melendez (22-5) was last in action last June at UFC 188 where he lost a split-decision to Eddie Alvarez. After the bout, Melendez failed a drug test and was suspended for a year.
The former Strikeforce champion has dropped his last two outings to will be looking to get his career back on track after a rough patch. Always considered to be the number 1 lightweight fighter outside of the Octagon, Melendez has gone 1-3 under the promotions banner with his only win coming in October of 2013 over Diego Sanchez at UFC 166.