One of the more anticipated featherweight fights of 2021 takes place on Saturday when high-level strikers Edson Barboza and Giga Chikadze face off in the main event of UFC Vegas 35 from UPC Apex.
Barboza, who is the No. 9 ranked fighter in the official UFC featherweight rankings, is on a two-fight winning streak. Barboza, who was 19-4 before he faced Khabib Nurmagomedov in a one-sided shellacking in December 2017, struggled after that loss. Between 2018 and May 2020, Barboza went 1-4 with losses to Kevin Lee, Justin Gaethje and Paul Felder at lightweight and Dan Ige at 145 pounds.