Athletes
Giga Chikadze: ‘He’s Never Fought Somebody Like Me’
UFC Featherweight Giga Chikadze Returns From 19-Month Layoff To Challenge Alex Caceres At UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs The Korean Zombie in Singapore
UFC Featherweight Giga Chikadze couldn’t have started his UFC career any better.
The Georgian defeated the first seven opponents he met inside the Octagon, defeating them in more dominant fashion every time he competed. In 2021, Chikadze collected back-to-back performance bonuses for TKO victories against Cub Swanson and Edson Barboza.
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His win over Barboza earned him his second consecutive UFC main event. In the UFC’s first fight night event of 2022, Chikadze faced his most difficult challenge to date in Calvin Kattar. Kattar and Chikadze were ranked No. 5 and No. 8, respectively, at the time, and both fighters were only a win or two away from potentially earning a shot to challenge Alexander Volkanovski for the 145-pound strap. The event also featured on ESPN the network, so the spotlight on both athletes couldn’t have been brighter.
Despite entering the fight as a -255 favorite, Chikadze suffered the most devastating loss of his career. While, on paper, the significant strike differential wouldn’t point to a one-sided fight, Kattar’s output, damage and early grappling secured a dominant unanimous decision victory, with the judges scoring the bout 50-45, 50-45 and 50-44.
While losing your first UFC fight is a hard enough pill to swallow, the worst of it was still to come for Chikadze once he got evaluated by medical professionals after the fight. Due to the damage he sustained throughout the 25 minutes, Chikadze said the Nevada State Athletic Commission issued a one-year medical suspension.
This came as a shock to the 2022 Forrest Griffin Community Award winner, who returned to training shortly after the fight.
“At the beginning [of my layoff], doctors did not allow me to fight, they gave me one year of sitting out,” Chikadze said. “I’ve been ready to fight for a long time. Since May of last year, I’ve been training, asking to fight. Finally, we’re here and I’m glad that we’re finally making the comeback.”
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The one positive that came out of Chikadze’s layoff was the amount of time he could strictly focus on improving his skill set, rather than preparing for a specific style of opponent. Chikadze said he evolved in every technical aspect of fighting - striking, grappling and wrestling - and he became a much smarter fighter in the process, developing patience and a better understanding of how to control the fight.
“It was challenging, [but] I feel like I’m a tough guy and I’ve been dealing with it well because I use it in a positive way. I’ve been training and adding some extra salt to my game. We’ll see Saturday how it worked. I believe this one-and-a-half year was very important in my life and in my career, and now I’m coming back in a different mode. Giga 2.0.”
At UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs The Korean Zombie, Chikadze returns to the Octagon to challenge 12-year UFC veteran Alex Caceres, who’s won seven of his last eight fights. Since 2012, Caceres has fought 28 times in the UFC, yet Chikadze believes none of Caceres’ opponents could’ve prepared him for what he’s going see on Saturday night.
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“He’s fought many strikers, he’s fought many fighters, but he’s never fought somebody like me,” Chikadze said. “Whenever I see him and look him in the eyes, he’s going to realize It was the dumbest callout he made after his last fight. Honestly, I’m glad he made it because nobody else from the Top 15 wanted to fight me.”
“He’s done pretty well [recently]. A lot of his opponents were changing in his last couple fights, and he was always staying in the fight and getting [wins]… I’m happy for him, until now. Once you sign and say my name and we’re scheduled to fight, he’s nobody at the moment.”
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After his fight against Kattar, Chikadze noticed that a lot of his supporters that were cheering him on throughout his seven-fight win streak began looking the other way once he lost. This weekend, Chikadze enters the Octagon trying to prove, only to himself, that he is as good as he says he is.
“This fight is for myself,” Chikadze said. “I’m not fighting for anybody. I’m not representing nobody, I’m representing myself because the Giga that was 7-0 in the UFC then lost one fight, everyone turned their back to him. I feel like I have to pick myself up. I’m just going [to be] really patient in this fight from the [first] second. I’m not rushing. All that matters is the win, but I’m definitely going to look for the finish.”
UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs The Korean Zombie took place live from Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore on August 26, 2023. See the Final Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
