The finely tuned weaponry wielded by Giga Chikadze—all of it buoyed by speed, power and technique—was too much to bear for his latest victim in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s dog-eat-dog featherweight division.
Chikadze wiped out former Ring of Combat champion Edson Barboza with punches in the third round of their UFC on ESPN 30 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, where he positioned himself as a Top 10 contender with room to grow. Barboza succumbed to punches 1:44 into Round 3, as he suffered just the fourth knockout loss of his 32-fight career.