UFC divisional rankings: Giga Chikadze enters featherweight rankings after career-best victory

Written by on September 2, 2021

This past Saturday was a big coming-out party for UFC featherweight Giga Chikadze. Chikadze picked up the biggest win of his career at UFC Fight Night, scoring a third-round knockout of Edson Barboza in the night’s main event.

Chikadze is now riding a nine-fight winning streak, with seven of those victories coming in the UFC Octagon. His last loss came in a June 2018 fight on Dana White’s Contender Series, costing him his initial chance to make the UFC roster. After winning two fights in less than a combined one minute, Chikadze got the call and has not disappointed since stepping onto the sport’s biggest stage.

With the win, Chikadze debuted in the CBS Sports UFC Divisional Rankings at No. 7.

Barboza dropped from No. 9 to No. 10 after the loss. He is now 2-2 since making the move to featherweight. Barboza had a two-fight winning streak snapped by Chikadze.

Saturday’s UFC Fight Night features just one fight featuring CBS Sports ranked fighters.

  • Middleweight: No. 5 Derek Brunson vs. No. 8 Darren Till

Rankings are compiled following the submission of ballots by Brent Brookhouse, Brian Campbell and Brandon Wise. Without further ado, here’s where things stand ahead of Saturday’s card.

For Brian Campbell’s updated Pound for Pound Rankings, click here.

Flyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Brandon Moreno (c)

19-5-2

2. Deiveson Figueiredo

20-2-1

3. Askar Askarov

12-0-1

4. Matt Schnell

15-5

5. Alexandre Pantoja

23-5

6. Kai Kara-France

22-9

7. Joseph Benavidez

28-8-

8. Alex Perez

24-6

9. Brandon Royval

12-5

10. Jussier Formiga

23-8

Bantamweight

Fighter

Record

1. Petr Yan

15-1

2. Aljamain Sterling (c)

19-3

3. Cory Sandhagen

14-3

4. TJ Dillashaw

17-4

5. Rob Font

19-4

6. Jose Aldo

30-7

7. Merab Dvalishvili

13-4

8. Pedro Munhoz

19-6

9. Marlon Moraes

23-8-1

10. Jimmie Rivera

23-5

Featherweight

Fighter

Record

1. Alexander Volkanovski (c)

22-1

2. Max Holloway

22-6

3. Brian Ortega

15-1

4. Zabit Magomedsharipov

18-1

5. Yair Rodriguez

12-2

6. Korean Zombie

17-6

7. Giga Chikadze

14-2

8. Calvin Kattar

22-5

9. Josh Emmett

16-2

10. Edson Barboza

22-10

Lightweight

Fighter

Record

1. Dustin Poirier

28-6

2. Charles Oliveira (c)

31-8

3. Justin Gaethje

22-3

4. Michael Chandler

22-6

5. Islam Makhachev

20-1

6. Rafael dos Anjos

30-13

7. Beneil Dariush

21-4-1

8. Dan Hooker

20-10

9. Gregor Gillespie

14-1

10. Tony Ferguson

25-6

Welterweight

Fighter

Record

1. Kamaru Usman (c)

19-1

2. Colby Covington

16-2

3. Leon Edwards

19-3

4. Gilbert Burns

20-4

5. Stephen Thompson

16-5-1

6. Vicente Luque

21-7-1

7. Jorge Masvidal

35-15

8. Michael Chiesa

18-5

9. Neil Magny

25-8

10. Santiago Ponzinibbio

28-4

Middleweight

Fighter

Record

1. Israel Adesanya (c)

21-1

2. Robert Whittaker

23-5

3. Paulo Costa

13-1

4. Jared Cannonier

14-5

5. Derek Brunson

22-7

6. Marvin Vettori

17-5-1

7. Jack Hermansson

18-2-1 22-6

8. Darren Till

18-2-1

9. Kelvin Gastelum

17-8

10. Sean Strickland

24-3

Light heavyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Jan Blachowicz (c)

28-8

2. Glover Teixeira

32-7

3. Jiri Prochazka

28-3-1

4. Aleksandar Rakic

14-2

5. Thiago Santos

21-9

6. Anthony Smith

35-16

7. Dominick Reyes

12-3

8. Magomed Ankalaev

15-1

9. Johnny Walker

18-5

10. Nikita Krylov

26-8

Heavyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Francis Ngannou (c)

16-3

2. Stipe Miocic

20-4

3. Ciryl Gane

10-0

4. Derrick Lewis

25-8

5. Curtis Blaydes

14-3

6. Alexander Volkov

33-9

7. Jairzinho Rozenstruik

12-2

8. Marcin Tybura

22-6

9. Chris Daukaus

11-3

10. Tai Tuivasa

13-3

Women’s strawweight

Fighter

Record

1. Rose Namajunas (c) 

10-4

2. Weili Zhang

21-1

3. Carla Esparza

18-6

4. Joanna Jedrzejczyk

16-4

5. Mackenzie Dern

11-1

6. Marina Rodriguez

14-1-2

7. Yan Xiaonan

13-2

8. Tatiana Suarez

8-0

9. Michelle Waterson

18-9

10. Jessica Andrade

21-9

Women’s flyweight

Fighter

Record

1. Valentina Shevchenko (c)

21-3

2. Lauren Murphy

15-4

3. Jennifer Maia

19-7-1

4. Katlyn Chookagian

16-4

5. Cynthia Calvillo

9-2-1

Women’s bantamweight

Fighter

Record

1. Amanda Nunes (c)

21-4

2. Germaine de Randamie

10-4

3. Holly Holm

14-5

4. Aspen Ladd

9-1

5. Irene Aldana

13-6

6. Julianna Pena

10-4

7. Yana Kunitskaya

14-6

8. Julia Avila

8-2

9. Ketlen Vieira

11-2

10. Miesha Tate

19-7


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