COVID knocked him out for a long time in 2020, and he went nearly a year between fights after returning in 2021 before recording two wins in 2022 to regain some momentum, only to be forced to deal with a pair of herniated discs in 2020. his back, which resulted in another full-year layoff.
Yusuff finally returned last October, partnered with veteran Edson Barboza for his first main event assignment, and from the early stages of the contest it seemed poised to end quickly and in his favor.
He was all over the Brazilian veteran from the start, peppering him with heavy punches and putting him on the deck about 30 seconds into the contest, running in search of the finish. He increased the pressure and continued to land big shots, but couldn’t fend off the battle-hardened Barboza, and early in the second the veteran began to rally.
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“To be honest, even though it wasn’t a win, I still took a lot of good things out of it, a lot of technical things, both positive and negative, that I could work on correcting,” Yusuff said about the fight with Barboza, which he lost by unanimous decision, despite a good start. “Being in there for 25 minutes is different. No matter what anyone says, everything comes with experience, and the experience of being there for 25 (minutes) was a huge bonus for me.
“It’s more comfortable to fight for that long,” he replied when asked to expand on his previous answer. “Human beings aren’t supposed to fight for 25 minutes, so finding comfort in being able to fist fight for 25 minutes makes 15 (minutes) a little less shocking.”