A Striking Warfare At 145

August 28th Edson Barboza takes on Giga Chikadze which will be a striking clinic. This featherweight bout has two of the best strikers in the division and is a big test for both individuals. The fighters are ranked 9 and 10 in the featherweight division. I believe this is both opponents’ toughest task at featherweight. Chikadze is undefeated in the UFC and is coming off a spectacular win over a veteran in Cub Swanson which Chikadze TKO him with a brutal leg kick to the body. On the other hand since Barboza dropped down to featherweight he’s 2 for 3 in the division and some people believe he should be 3 for 3 with his only loss coming by a split decision against Dan Ige in his featherweight debut. Barboza’ s last time in the cage was against Shane Burgos and he looked fantastic especially with the pressure Burgos was putting on him, he overcame the pressure and knocked out Burgos in the 3rd round.

This main event between these two fighters has fight of the year written all over it. Between both fighters they have a combined number of 21 KO/TKO with Barboza having 13 and Chikadze having 8. The winner of this fight will still be a few fights away from being a titled contender but the winner will have another impressive win on their resume.

However, how do these fighters stylistically match up against each other? They are very similar in their approach with throwing kicks right away to their opponents body or legs, both have very fast kicks. They both have wins by kicks to an opponent’s body. They both come from a similar background in kickboxing and Muay Thai. Where do they differ? Besides the insane kicks that Barboza throws and his elite striking he is also a brown belt in brazilian jiu jitsu and if need be he can take the fight to the ground. Even though his record has only one submission win in his mma career he can still pull out his jiu jitsu if he’s losing on the feet. I also believe Barboza is the better boxer, so by getting in the clinch and not giving Chikadze the space to throw his vicious kicks I believe it will benefit Barboza in the later rounds. If Chikadze can keep range for the fight and is able to throw his kicks I can see it being a long night for Barboza. I think if Barboza uses his mma experience and throws in some takedowns and looks for a neck or an arm it will slow down Chikadze and make him hesitant. If Chikadze is able to defend the takedowns and stay out of a clinch war and make it a strictly kickboxing match I think he will be crowned the winner.

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