Outlook: The featherweight division is perhaps only behind bantamweight in terms of its talent saturation, and breaking through into the Top 10 is becoming a tougher task by the week. Arnold Allen, Josh Emmett and Giga Chikadze are a trio who are a testament to that fact. None of them have had a particularly fast track to their current position, and now it’s time for them to get their crack at the top-half of the division.
England’s Allen has shown his high fight IQ and technical abilities in a variety of ways, most recently in a fun prospect-vs-prospect fight against Sodiq Yusuff. He and Emmett were booked at the beginning of 2020, but the matchup was scratched. Speaking of Emmett, he had an immense win over Shane Burgos in one of the best fights of 2020, but a knee injury sustained in that fight has kept him out of the Octagon since. He might deserve a shot up the ladder more than anyone, but the fighter with the most steam in his ascension right now is Giga Chikadze. The kickboxing ace found his groove after a few UFC fights and seems bound for a Top 5 fight after three straight finishes, including a first-round TKO of Cub Swanson and a third-round TKO in a main event against Edson Barboza.