UFC on ESPN 30: Chikadze vs Barboza - Card Preview - 8/28/21
We are hanging out at the Apex Facility in Las Vegas for another week as the UFC showcases two of the most dangerous strikers in the featherweight division.
Edson Barboza has long been a staple top contender in the lightweight and featherweight divisions. With 25 fights in the UFC and fresh off a KO of Shane Burgos, he'll look to derail Giga Chikadze's hype train. I've wrote about Giga's signature liver kick before on this site and it was great to see him use it to finish Cub Swanson last time out. This promises to be an awesome match.
Another fight you are going to want to look out for is the return of Kevin Lee vs Daniel Rodriguez. Lee tapped to current champ, Charles Oliveira right before the pandemic hit. He was originally slated to face Sean Brady (which also would have been a great match) but when that fell through, D-Rod stepped in. You're not going to want to miss this one.
Anyone who has been watching the comeback of The Ultimate Fighter reality show will get to find out who is awarded contracts as well. Bryan Battle and Gilbert Urbina will fight for the middleweight season winner while Ricky Turcios and Brady Hiestand will round out the bantamweights. Tresean Gore was the original middleweight finalist, having knocked out Urbina in the semifinals but he suffered an injury which is preventing him from closing out the season. I'm sure he'll get himself a contract regardless.
Most of the card is finalized but there are still some question marks remaining. I'll be sure to update it as the answers roll in. Check out our list of predictions for this card here!
Main Card
Edson Barboza vs. Giga Chikadze
Bryan Battle vs. Gilbert Urbina
Ricky Turcios vs. Brady Hiestand
Kevin Lee vs. Daniel Rodriguez
Andre Petroski vs. Micheal Gillmore
Makhmud Muradov vs. Gerald Meerschaert
Preliminary Card
Alessio Di Chirico vs. Abdul Razak Alhassan
Sam Alvey vs. Wellington Turman
Dustin Jacoby vs. Darren Stewart
JJ Aldrich vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
Jamall Emmers vs. Pat Sabatini
Guido Canneti vs. Mana Martinez