UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski thinks Giga Chikadze got a big wake-up call in his loss to Calvin Kattar at UFC Vegas 46.
Volkanovski is set to defend his featherweight title against ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273. He was originally supposed to face Max Holloway in a trilogy, but Holloway pulled out with an injury just days after the fight was officially announced and booked.
After Holloway pulled out, Chikadze was one of the first featherweights who volunteered to step up on short notice. But, Chikadze was already booked against Kattar, and the UFC moved on to Jung as a replacement.
This created quite the response from Chikadze, who became hostile in a series of tweets with Volkanovski for allegedly passing him up. Chikadze would go on to lose in a lopsided bout to Kattar via unanimous decision.
During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Volkanovski criticized Chikadze for his performance and how he handled the featherweight title debacle.
“I think [UFC Vegas 46] was a big eye-opener for Giga,” Volkanovski said. “That, mate, [against] good guys, you can’t just rely on a kick. You know, the Giga kick. It just shows you, you nullify his Giga kick and he ends up being a punching bag. Again just, man, that’s why you’ve got to fight these contenders. Fight all the top guys, guys that are going to mix it up. See where you are before you start facing the champ. You could imagine when you talk about making adjustments, game planning, cardio, all these tools that I have — mate, I would have made him look really, really bad. You could imagine.”
Alexander Volkanovski, Giga Chikadze Went Back And Forth On Social Media Recently
Despite the loss to Kattar, Chikadze is still considered one of the top prospects in the featherweight division. While his loss to Kattar is a setback, he could get back in the thick of things with another streak.
The beef between Chikadze and Volkanovski could appear to just be getting started. These two could potentially meet in the Octagon in the future if everything falls into place.
Do you think we’ll ever see Alexander Volkanovski vs. Giga Chikadze? Who wins?