Dan Ige Open To Giving Edson Barboza Rematch

Ige: Give Me Eight Weeks For Barboza Rematch

Dan Ige is willing to give Edson Barboza a rematch.

Barboza made his featherweight debut last week at UFC Florida when he took on Ige in a three-round fight. Both fighters had their moments, but many observers felt Barboza had done enough to come away with the decision victory.

In the end, two of the three judges saw it differently as Ige earned the split decision verdict to make it six wins in a row. The Brazilian, on the other hand, has now lost three in a row, with his last two being highly-debatable decision losses.

Barboza was naturally not happy. He claimed he won the fight and has even asked for the UFC to make things right by awarding him his win bonus. While Ige feels sorry for him, he also feels it’s wrong for the veteran to just state that he won the fight.

That said, he is willing to throw down with Barboza again.

“It’s kind of sad, you know, I feel kind of bad for him,” Ige told TMZ (via BJ Penn). “But I kind of think he’s doing the wrong thing to say, ‘I won this fight, I won the fight, I won the fight.’ You know, it is what it is man, it sucks, you know, sometimes we lose in the sport. But clearly he has to go back and watch the fight because I hit the dude with 95 right hands. I won rounds two and three. That’s it. He hurt me, yes he did hurt with me a body shot, the last 30 seconds of round two. But that doesn’t win you the round.

“I just feel kind of bad for him. That guy’s a legend, that guy’s been around, he’s been in the top-10, top-5 of the world for the last 10 years. I understand how bad he wants to win, but you know what, the guy for how much he’s saying he won the fight, not one person from his team has asked for a rematch. Hey, I’ll give him a rematch dude, I beat him on two weeks’ notice. Give me eight weeks and I’ll see what I can do to him.”

Would you like to see an Ige vs. Barboza rematch? Does it go differently?