Chikadze stops Barboza in UFC main event

Giga Chikadze earned a spectacular win over Edson Barboza on Saturday, defeating him via TKO at the 1:44 mark of the third round in the UFC Fight Night featherweight main event in Las Vegas.

Chikadze rocked Barboza with a right hand and then a left to set up the finish. He unloaded ground-and-pound on the Brazilian veteran and attempted to lock in a submission, but Barboza escaped. Chikadze put him down for good moments later and secured the biggest victory of his up-and-coming MMA career.

Afterward, the 33-year-old expressed interest in a clash with former 145-pound champion Max Holloway or a backup position for the upcoming title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega in September.

Chikadze-Barboza was a tremendous display of technical striking from both sides, with the two featherweight contenders landing an extreme amount of kicks and sharp punches.

Though Barboza put up a good fight throughout the first 10 minutes, Chikadze edged him on the scorecards in both rounds before connecting with the fight-ending blows in the third stanza.

With the victory, Chikadze extended his winning streak to nine. The No. 10-ranked featherweight is 7-0 in the UFC since making his first appearance in 2019.

Barboza, who entered as the ninth-ranked contender, saw his two-fight winning streak end. He's 2-4 over his past six outings dating back to 2019, and he's 2-2 since dropping down to 145 pounds.