Saturday’s UFC main event was one of the best mixed martial arts fights of 2021. It promised fireworks – a matchup between Giga Chikadze and Edson Barboza, two of the best technical strikers that the sport has to offer – and it overdelivered. And after twists, turns and multiple momentum shifts, it was the upstart Chikadze who earned the biggest win of his career.
Quite simply, the win over Barboza will be career-making for Chikadze, who was featuring in his first UFC main event. After emerging as one of the breakout stars of the UFC’s pandemic era, he turned in the finest performance of his career, against his most formidable opponent, with the brightest lights on him.
Barboza is a truly marvelous stand-up fighter, one who only very rarely has encountered an opponent on his level. Chikadze rose to the occasion, and more.
The win makes Chikadze an instant major contender in the featherweight division, as the 33-year-old Georgian kickboxer has now started a perfect 7-0 in his UFC career and finally claimed a win over a big, current name. He’s shaken off some of the struggles of his early UFC career – split decision wins over the likes of Brandon Davis and Jamall Emmers seem a distant memory now. He has fully arrived as a compelling force.
Heading into Saturday night’s fight, Chikadze simply hadn’t proven himself at a high level the way Barboza had. Even so, the start of the fight was almost jarring – I knew Chikadze was fast, but I didn’t expect him to be faster than the likes of Edson Barboza. The fight was a warp-speed chess match of moves, countermoves, adjustments, counter-adjustments, and some good old-fashioned hand-throwing. It was a joy, and Chikadze wound up a step ahead.
Barboza, through his amazing reaction time and great defensive strategy, managed to take away Chikadze’s most famous weapon – the Giga Kick. Chikadze responded with a hundred different looks, controlling the range brilliantly, and settling into a great rhythm throughout the first round. But Chikadze had set a very fast pace – and in the first five-rounder of his career, the gas tank was always going to be the question. Through the second, Chikadze noticeably slowed down, the wind having been taken out of his sails somewhat by Barboza’s insistent body work, famous leg kicks, and Chikadze’s own workrate.
Heading into the third, it felt like the tide had well and truly shifted, and the fight was likely to be Barboza’s from there on out. Chikadze may have sensed that too, because he went and rolled the dice. Chikadze came out pushing even harder in the third round, throwing everything he had towards a finish. He got his opportunity when he stunned Barboza with a hard knee to the body and a series of devastating right hands, eventually earning a TKO finish.
We knew Chikadze was an extremely sharp kickboxer in space, but we hadn’t seen him finish someone with the hands – and I thought it telling that he needed several big shots against a wounded Barboza to finish him off. Out of all of Chikadze’s strengths, pure punching power isn’t one of them. But the rest of the game is – we saw just how deep his arsenal is on Saturday night, how he responds to adversity, and what he can do when matched up against the very best at what he does.
Giga Chikadze just outstruck one of the very elite pure strikers in the sport. You could make a very compelling case that he should be ranked in the top five when the next rankings come out. And in a division filled with a lot of guys who like to trade punches, there may not be many who can get one over on Giga.
The Big Fight 