UFC on FOX 16 results recap: Edson Barboza vs Paul Felder fight review and analysis

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight spinners Edson Barboza and Paul Felder collided last night (July 25, 2015) at UFC on FOX 16 inside United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Barboza may have entered this bout off a loss, but the Brazilian Muay Thai specialist was still regarded as an elite fighter. If he managed to defeat Felder, Barboza would not be far from a title shot.

Meanwhile, this fight was a massive opportunity for Felder. Just three fights into his UFC career, Felder would be able to leapfrog plenty of excellent fighters into the top 10 with a victory.

Felder quickly took the roll of pressure fighter, walking towards his opponent with feints and punches. Barboza did his best to stand his ground and fire off hard counter combinations, but Felder connected with a nasty left hook that caused his opponent's eye to close up.

Despite that, Barboza was landing some nice shots of his own, including a powerful switch body kick. After a brief pause due to a spinning groin strike, the two returned to their former roles of aggressor and counter puncher, with both men landing some heavy shots.

All in all, the opening round was quite close and featured many spinning attacks.

The stand up war continued into the second round. While Barboza had the edge in volume, Felder was likely landing the hard shots, including a nasty spinning back fist.

At about the halfway point into the round, Barboza really began to find his range. He was connecting with body and low kicks nicely, while both fighters continued to mix in a huge number of spinning kicks, punches, and elbows. However, just as Barboza seemed to be pulling ahead a bit, Felder really stepped up the aggression and put his opponent on the defensive.

For the second time in a row, it was a close and entertaining round.

The pace slowed just a bit in the opening couple minutes of the third round, which really allowed Barboza to pick and choose his spots to attack. While the punching was fairly even, Barboza was most definitely landing the better kicks.

Perhaps because of the numerous body kicks that he had absorbed, Felder really slowed down in the last round. In addition, Barboza really found his timing. Together, this allowed Barboza to take control, which was the first time that really happened in this fight.

At the end of a close fight, that was enough to secure the win.

Barboza did an excellent job in this fight of adapting to his opponent. He got hit with some heavy punches early, but Barboza continued to work his movement and kicks throughout the fight. By the end of 15 minutes, Barboza was successfully avoiding most of his opponent's shots while actively countering with nasty kicks.

That's a big improvement for Barboza, whose defensive boxing has long been an issue for him.

After this win, Barboza requested an opponent ranked above him. Of those fighters, Eddie Alvarez is available, and that fight would undoubtedly be an excellent scrap of boxer and Muay Thai fighter.

One thing's for certain, Felder is inhumanly tough. He absorbed some insanely powerful kicks from Barboza -- which absolutely hurt -- but his poker face never broke. And though he slowed in the final round, Felder continued to push forward throughout.

While it was a close fight, two things ended up costing Felder the bout. For one, he was overly reliant on the spinning attacks, which became predictably. Additionally, he failed to push the pace in the third round, and it ended up costing him dearly.

Nonetheless, Felder is clearly a top-notch talent. He may have lost his first bout with a top 10 opponent, but he definitely deserves another fighter inside the rankings. Next up, I'd like to see Felder square off with Bobby Green, another tough athlete.

Last night, Edson Barboza earned a quality decision win over Paul Felder. Can the Brazilian climb the ranks and earn a title shot?

For complete UFC on FOX 16: "Dillashaw vs Barao" results and play-by-play, click HERE!