Edson Barboza says his dream of becoming champion is still alive

Poster of the fight between Barboza and Lee / Reproduction Twitter

Edson Barbosa would make the final leap towards fighting for the belt in his category at UFC 218. However, his defeat to Khabib Nurmagomedov delayed his plans.

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Despite the unforeseen circumstances, he claims that his dream of becoming a UFC champion is still alive. The Brazilian will restart his journey towards fighting for the lightweight title on April 21st. The fight is scheduled to take place in Atlantic City against Kevin Lee.

“The way is to get back to winning ways. We will only get a chance at the belt when we get some victories. This next fight is the first step, the dream continues and I will continue working very hard to achieve this goal.”

The category title belongs to Irish Conor McGregor, who must be removed from the position of champion. The next person to hold the lightweight title will be decided on April 7th, when Tony Ferguson and Nurmagomedov will face each other. Barboza is number four on the list of challengers, Lee is seventh.

About his opponent Edson told Combate that he is an excellent athlete and as he is among the 10 best in the world, anything could happen.

"The Kevin Lee He's an excellent athlete, he's also among the 10 best in the world and he's a ranked guy. We are talking about the best in the world, anything can happen. But I will work hard to achieve this victory and bring it to our city (Nova Friburgo-RJ) and our country. It's going to be a war, as always! Everyone knows that every time I go up there I prepare for war and this time it won’t be any different.”

The athlete from Rio de Janeiro has a record of 19 wins and five losses. Securing victory on April 21st, he believes he will be closer to being the next to hold the belt.

“I'm still among the top five in the category, so I'm close, I'm very close to the belt. If I win now, I'll put myself in line to be one of the next challengers. I lost to the guy who's going to fight for the belt now, and I'm still very close to my goal.”