Preview: UFC on ESPN 30 ‘Barboza vs. Chikadze’

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The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday closes out its August schedule with UFC on ESPN 30 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, and the main card looks fun on paper. Much like its predecessor, this is basically a two-fight show in terms of stakes, led by a striker’s delight between Edson Barboza and Giga Chikadze in the featherweight headliner. Beyond that, the fight carrying the most importance involves Kevin Lee’s return, as he looks to build some much-needed momentum against Daniel Rodriguez at 170 pounds. Representatives from Season 29 of “The Ultimate Fighter” comprise half of this six-fight main draw, which includes the two tournament finals. While the season was filled with competitors who might not necessarily make an immediate impact on the UFC roster, the matches should continue the season-long trend of being entertaining inside the cage.

Now to the preview for the UFC on ESPN 30 “Barboza vs. Chikadze” main card:

Featherweights

#9 FW | Edson Barboza (22-9, 16-9 UFC) vs. #10 FW | Giga Chikadze (13-2, 6-0 UFC)

ODDS: Barboza (-117), Chikadze (-103)

Even though he came to the UFC with some hype, Chikadze’s rise through the featherweight ranks has been a pleasant surprise. The Georgian was a well-regarded kickboxer but had not shown much in his professional MMA career to date. His lone step up in competition as a full-time mixed martial artist had come on Dana White’s Contender Series against Austin Springer, who eventually found a path to get Chikadze to the mat and score a submission. After two more wins over what barely qualified as professional competition, Chikadze took a late-notice UFC call and certainly made the most of it. Split decision victories over Brandon Davis and Jamall Emmers showed some growth from the Springer fight and some consistent issues. Chikadze had greatly shored up his grappling in little over a year, but his tendency to throw heat and hunt for a knockout often left him exhausted against opponents able to press a consistent fight. Despite scoring three more wins in 2020, Chikadze was not tested much the rest of the way. Irwin Rivera and Jamey Simmons had little to offer Chikadze physically, and Omar Morales was quick to consent to the type of range striking match in which the Kings MMA rep could look his best. That made Chikadze’s bout against Cub Swanson in May absolutely fascinating. If nothing else, Swanson figured to bring pressure and answer exactly how Chikadze would fare when dragged into deeper waters. Chikadze, however, made sure that did not happen. He handled Swanson’s approach well for the minute that the fight lasted and then became the first man to knock out the World Extreme Cagefighting veteran since Jose Aldo in 2009, scoring with his signature “Giga kick” to the liver and crumpling the Californian. There are still questions about exactly how deeply Chikadze’s overall game runs, but it is difficult to deny that the man is good at what he does and adds even more excitement to a deep featherweight division. Up next: a striker’s delight, as Chikadze gets a chance at another breakthrough win against Barboza.

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In retrospect, the UFC did really throw Barboza into the deep end, particularly at a time when it usually took a much longer resume to make it to the Octagon. When Barboza hit the UFC, he had six fights and about a year and a half as a pro under his belt, but he firmly swam instead of sank in the face of the UFC’s matchmaking, winning four straight fights—a run that included an all-time highlight reel knockout of Terry Etim. However, after the Etim win, Barboza had his hype train derailed by Jamie Varner of all people, as the former WEC champion’s aggression managed to get Barboza out of his comfort zone and led to a first-round loss. Barboza was on the fringe of the lightweight title picture for years, but the Varner loss provided a perennial blueprint for opponents. Barboza was an absolutely electrifying kicker and striker given time and a blank canvas, but that would all go out the window against opponents who could pressure or outwrestle him. Starting with a 2017 loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Barboza’s lightweight days hit the clear point of diminishing returns. He had his moments and his loss to Paul Felder resulted in some controversial scorecards, but after losing four out of five at 155 pounds, Barboza made the decision to cut down to featherweight. At 145 pounds, things promptly picked up right where they left off. As in the Felder fight, Barboza looked good and seemed to have done enough to win, only to watch the judges rule against him in controversial fashion. Things have gone much more smoothly in his last two bouts. Makwan Amirkhani provided a bit of a showcase opponent, and Barboza’s victory over Shane Burgos in May was impressive to see. Barboza had his best response to pressure in ages while picking off Burgos with counters before scoring a knockout. Barboza still has some distance to cover before becoming a true featherweight contender, but his name value and reputation as an action fighter should set him up well if he holds serve against Chikadze.

This was the right fight to make, which in turns makes it a particularly hard one to call. For starters, both men are going to get the fight they want. Barboza’s traditional issues come against pressure and forward movement, which Chikadze has not provided much of to date; and even if he did, Barboza’s performance against Burgos suggests that he is now a much more comfortable fighter in that aspect. If anything, Barboza figures to be the bully. That could cause some issues from a cardio standpoint, as was evident in Chikadze’s early UFC fights, but those bouts involved much more grappling than should happen here. Plus, this might be a different Chikadze. A lot of those early fights had the air of him correctly deducing that he could not be tested on the feet, so he spent most of those bouts loading up in search of a highlight-reel knockout that never came. He seemed much more locked in against Swanson—and rightfully so—but again, that only provides about a minute to go on and does not answer much about how Chikadze fares if such a fight would have gone any length of time. There is a chance that this more aggressive version of Barboza leaves himself open for another quick Chikadze knockout, but that has historically only happened against an opponent who can blitz the Brazilian and get him moving backwards; nevertheless, Chikadze stopping the historically durable Swanson does have to leave that open as a possibility. If this fight is going to go five rounds and Barboza is going to be the aggressor, it is difficult not to just lean on him as having the advantage given Chikadze’s past cardio issues—even if he has likely improved them and may not get the right fight to truly make them a liability. Either way, this should be fun, particularly since it should answer a lot of questions about an interesting prospect in Chikadze. The pick is Barboza via decision.

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