Arnold Barboza Jr Plans Thailand Camp and UFC Run at 145
Arnold Barboza Jr. is still boxing, and he is already talking about a UFC run at 145 pounds.
The 33-1 California welterweight said he will put four months into mixed martial arts after his next fight, including a training block in Thailand. The comments came from a gym video he posted while wrapping his hands and laying out the plan in real time.
“I’m gonna dedicate four months of just training and sh*t,” Barboza said. “I’m gonna go to Thailand, bro. I’m down to fight in MMA. So I’m trying to go to the UFC.”
He did not announce a contract, an opponent, or a debut date. He described a crossover he wants to build while he keeps taking boxing work.
“So I’m doing boxing, but I’m gonna try to go,” he said. “I’m gonna be one of the first boxers to f**ing do boxing and UFC. Bro, UFC, bro, I feel like that sht would be dope.”
Barboza pointed to fighters who have already crossed over. “I know, like, Chris Shields did it, you know, James Toney back then,” he said. “Claressa Shields is the name he was reaching for. Toney fought Randy Couture in the UFC in 2010 and was submitted in the first round.
The boxer is not selling this as a one-night exhibition. “I’m gonna get that UFC, bro,” he said. He also put a number on the division. “Weight class, I’ll be at 145, bro.”
That would put him in the UFC featherweight division, two classes below the 147-pound boxing limit he used in March. Barboza last fought on March 14 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, beating Kenneth Sims Jr. by unanimous decision to win the vacant WBO Global welterweight title.
His only professional boxing loss is a May 2025 unanimous decision to Teófimo López for the WBO super lightweight title in Times Square. He is signed with Golden Boy Promotions and does not have a next boxing date announced.
Barboza Jr was honest about the part of MMA he does not already own. “I don’t need stand-up, Scotty, but I feel like I need to learn how to approach wrestling.”
He even floated a longer wrestling education. “Two, three years, Dagestan, forget,” he said, before adding that Cain Velasquez could make that trip with him. “I’m down, bro.”
The training list he wants after the next boxing fight is a roster of established MMA names. “I’d rather train with, you know, like, Mighty Mouse, Masvidal, Cody, Chito, Dustin.”
That is Demetrious Johnson, Jorge Masvidal, Cody Garbrandt, Marlon “Chito” Vera, and Dustin Poirier. He saved the biggest ask for last.
“If I also be able to get some training with Toporio, bro, that’d be the dopest, fool,” he said, referring to Ilia Topuria. “Like, legit, I f*ck with him full heavy, dog.”
The work is already starting closer to home. “Tomorrow, I’m gonna be training with Jeremy Stevens, bro,” Barboza said. “He wants to do some boxing work, we’re gonna do some MMA work.”
Jeremy Stephens is a longtime UFC veteran who has mixed boxing and cage work for years. Barboza has also been in the gym with Bobby Green, who tapped him during mixed sparring in August after Barboza had the better of their boxing rounds.
Green has already told him the cage is a different sport. That warning is the point of the four-month camp. Hands will not be enough at 145 if the fight hits the fence.
No UFC official has confirmed interest. Barboza is still a ranked boxing contender with one loss in 34 professional fights, 11 of those wins by knockout. A featherweight MMA debut would require a real wrestling base, a cut from welterweight boxing, and a promotion willing to take the risk.
The next step he named is the one he can control. Finish the boxing assignment in front of him, then spend four months in Thailand and in MMA rooms with the names he listed.
If that camp happens, the UFC conversation stops being gym talk. Until then, it is a 33-1 boxer telling the camera he wants the belt at 145 and is willing to learn the part of fighting he has never had to use.