Giga Chikadze (L)of Georgia celebrates after defeating Irwin Rivera (R) of the United States in their Featherweight bout during UFC Fight Night at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on May 16, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
UFC featherweight Giga Chikadze expressed his desire to take on the number 1 ranked featherweight Max Holloway
Chikadze has been soaring in the UFC’s featherweight division. He made his UFC debut only in September 2019 and is already 5-0 up in the promotion. With a career record of 12 wins and only 2 losses, he surely is one to look out for in the future.
The Georgian is all set to face UFC veteran Cub Swanson in the co-main event of the upcoming UFC Fight Night: Reyes vs Prochazka.
Chikadze is coming off a stunning first-round TKO win over Jamey Simmons at UFC on ESPN in November 2020. The win earned him the Performance of the Night award as well. He will be looking forward to carrying that momentum when he takes on the experienced Swanson.
The Schmo caught up with Chikadze back stage at the UFC Vegas 25 weigh-ins, and asked about the Georgian’s future fight plans, especially about how he wants to fight next.
After a bit of subtly beating around the bush, Chikadze revealed that if there was one fighter he would like to fight, it was Max Holloway.
However he did acknowledge the fact that he must earn it, and hence revealed that he needed to fight at least once before taking on ‘Blessed’.
Chikadze said:
“I would really like to fight him. It’s more important than fighting for the title, according to me. I know if I call him out right now – from the number 14 to someone who is the number one contender, I believe I need one step before. So, I would love to fight his last opponent [Calvin Kattar], so I can show what type of performance I can bring on the table.”
Chikadze takes on the vastly experienced and UFC mainstay Cub Swanson in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 25 (Reyes vs Prochazka). He will be looking forward to extending his unbeaten streak in the UFC.
Going into the fight, Chikadze is the betting favourite with odds of -165. Swanson, on the other hand, is the slight underdog with +140.
Swanson has been on a two fight win streak after preventing a four-fight skid from getting worse. He is coming off a massive KO victory over Daniel Pineda at UFC 256.
The 37-year old will be expecting to make the best use of his twilight phase.
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