With wins over two top-ranked UFC lightweights, Edson Barboza is aiming at fights that will get him a title shot, even though he professes no desire to fight champ Eddie Alvarez.

“I want fights that put me close to the No. 1 contender,” Barboza (18-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) told MMAjunkie Radio.

The Brazilian striking phenom, who dismantled former Strikeforce champ Gilbert Melendez (22-6 MMA, 1-4 UFC) at this past Saturday’s UFC on FOX 20, now trains with Alvarez and doesn’t want to jeopardize that relationship. But he doesn’t want to take a step down in opposition because of his preference, which is why he’s not necessarily keen on fighting Will Brooks.

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Brooks (18-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who recently dispatched Ross Pearson (19-11 MMA, 11-8 UFC) at The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale, tweeted he’d like to fight Barboza at a UFC Fight Night event scheduled for Oct. 1 in Portland, Ore. While Barboza said he would take the bout if asked, he’s well aware the ex-Bellator champ and recent UFC signee is below him in the promotion’s top-15 list (Barboza is No. 7 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA lightweight rankings while Brooks is No. 11).

“If the UFC says you have to fight this guy to get close to the title shot, why not? But like I said, I prefer to fight somebody above me in the rankings,” Barboza said. “If I have a choice, I’d prefer to fight somebody ahead of me. There are five guys ahead of me, and I hope the UFC gives me these guys. If you see the rankings, it’s better for my career. I have to fight the best.”

Thanks to his recent success, there’s only a handful of opponents who fit the bill. There’s Donald Cerrone, who submitted him two years ago in a flashy fight; followed by Nate Diaz, currently set to rematch Conor McGregor at UFC 202; Tony Ferguson; ex-champ Rafael dos Anjos; and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Barboza is of the opinion that Ferguson should get the first shot at newly minted champ Alvarez, who stopped dos Anjos earlier this month at UFC Fight Night 90. While Nurmagomedov has loudly claimed he has the best argument after a bout with Ferguson was scrapped for the third time, Barboza said the Dagestani fighter’s two-year layoff has hurt his title prospects.

“In my opinion, the guy who deserves it the most is Tony Ferguson,” Barboza said. “He’s busy all the time fighting everybody. Khabib stayed out for a long time, and I think he has to fight a couple more guys to get the chance.”

As for Brooks, Barboza would advise the same. The Brazilian’s next step is to get medical clearance and seek out his next fight.

“Right now, my foot is not looking good; it’s looking big right now, especially my right foot,” he said. “I’ll probably want to go to the doctor to see what happened this week. But thank god, it’s just my foot. My shoulders, elbows, and knees are 100 percent. I want to come back to train next week. But I hope really soon. Really, really soon. Especially right now – right now is the time.”

For complete coverage of UFC on FOX 20, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

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