Two top
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweights will try to move
up the ladder this July.
In March, Super
Lutas first reported that Arnold
Allen (19-3) and Giga
Chikadze (15-3) were slated to square off in England, with the
date not specified. On Thursday,
multiple
outlets were able to confirm the featherweight booking for
UFC
304, which will go down at the Co-op Live in Manchester,
England, on July 27. The only other matchup currently booked for
this evening is another 145-pound affair pitting Nathaniel
Wood against Daniel
Pineda.
Allen is currently riding the first losing streak of his career,
having dropped a five-round decision to Max
Holloway in April 2023 and then another decision to Movsar
Evloev in January. Before losing to the former champ, the Brit
had strung together 10 straight wins in the Octagon, where he beat
the likes of Calvin
Kattar, Dan Hooker
and Sodiq
Yusuff on his way up the division. This will be Allen’s first
outing on home country soil since 2022.
“Ninja” Chikadze bounced back from a setback to Kattar by
outworking Alex
Caceres via decision in August 2023. Like Allen, Chikadze had
brought a great deal of momentum with him into his pairing with
Kattar, as he had won his first seven outings in the UFC prior to
facing “The Boston Finisher.” Chikadze made waves when he wrecked
Cub
Swanson with a body kick and punches in 83 seconds, and a
subsequent demolition of Edson
Barboza pushed him into elite contender status.