On Saturday night, Edson Barboza will meet Giga Chikadze in a featherweight bout that will serve as the headliner for UFC on ESPN 30, from the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas. In addition to the main event, the finals of The Ultimate Fighter 29 Middleweight and Bantamweight tournaments will take place. Bryan Battle and Gilbert Urbina tangle for the middleweight title, and Ricky Tucios will fight Brady Hiestand for the bantamweight honors.
We have the full fight card along with UFC betting previews for these three matchups.
UFC on ESPN 30: Barboza vs Chikadze Preview
Main Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Edson Barboza vs Giga Chikadze (Featherweight)
Bryan Battle vs Gilbert Urbina (The Ultimate Fighter 29 Middleweight Finals)
Ricky Turcios vs Brady Hiestand (The Ultimate Fighter 29 Bantamweight Finals)
Kevin Lee vs Daniel Rodriguez (Welterweight)
Andre Petroski vs Micheal Gilmore (Middleweight)
Makhmud Muradov vs Gerald Meerschaert (Middleweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Alessio Di Chirico vs Abdul Razak Alhassan (Middleweight)
Sam Alvey vs Wellington Turman (Middleweight)
Dustin Jacoby vs Darren Stewart (Light Heavyweight)
J.J. Aldrich vs Vanessa Demopoulos (Women’s Flyweight)
Jamall Emmers vs Pat Sabatini (Featherweight)
Mana Martinez vs Guido Cannetti (Bantamweight)
Edson Barboza (22-9, 16-9 UFC, -117) vs Giga Chikadze (13-2, 6-0 UFC, -103) is Chikadze’s latest chance to make another move up in UFC. He joined the promotion on a last-second call and has not looked back. His grappling needed some work early, as did his tendency to try and bring so much volume and intensity in striking that he would wear himself out and leave his defenses vulnerable. When he defeated Cub Swanson, though, he showed greater maturity, waiting back for the right moment to bring damage and knocking Swanson out, the first fighter to do that in 12 years, using a “Giga kick” to Swanson’s liver.
Barboza also made hay quickly in his early UFC days, joining as a lightweight, but then when he dropped four out of five, he cut down to featherweight, and things improved significantly. He beat Makwan Amirkhani and Shane Burgos, using a response to pressure to deliver counters and then knock out Burgos in May. This is a fight in which both sides get an opponent tailored to their strengths; Barboza struggles with pressure, but Chikadze waits before striking. Cardio has been an issue for Chikadze, but Barboza does not bring the sort of fight that would test that. If the fight goes five, though, that could be a problem for Chikadze.
Final Prediction:
Barboza wins via decision
Bryan Battle (5-1, -155) vs Gilbert Urbina (6-1, +135) offers a fighter who looks like the real deal in Battle. He is a bit deceptive to watch, as his athleticism looked suspect, but he found ways to dig deep and run to a finish. Throughout this season of The Ultimate Fighter, his conditioning has been improved, but he still found himself fighting from behind to win. Urbina was one of the more well known fighters in the middleweight bracket, but he got knocked out in the semifinals by Tresean Gore. Gore had to withdraw due to injury, so Urbina advanced to the final by default. Urbina also likes to bring pressure and simply use his durability to ride to the end of the fight, which means that there should be some grappling and clinching — but nothing conclusive, because neither fighter is all that strong, while both are hard to finish. Urbina has more experience and the more sizable frame, and he offers more value, so even with that semifinal loss, I’m going with the underdog.
Final Prediction:
Urbina wins via decision
Ricky Turcios (10-2, -160) vs Brady Hiestand (5-1, +140) gives us a free-range fighter who delivered exciting wins against Daniel Argueta and Liudvik Sholinian in the first two rounds of the bracket. He only fought three fights between 2017 and this season of The Ultimate Fighter, but so far his style is working. Hiestand is only 22 years old and did not have much in the way of a body of work before this season. However, he used a strong and aggressive grappling and wrestling game to take down Josh Rettinghouse and Vince Murdock, two of the most experienced fighters in the whole cast of the show, and make it to the final. Hiestand did run low on gas in the win over Rettinghouse, which went the distance. Turcios has the edge in terms of experience and is the worthy favorite.
Final Prediction:
Turcios wins via decision
UFC Betting Odds
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