Cub Swanson was in talks to face Gavin Tucker at a planned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Fight Night event on May 1, but after Tucker was pegged to replace Ryan Hall against Dan Ige at UFC Vegas 21 on March 13, the promotion decided to look elsewhere.
According to MMA Junkie, Swanson will instead face Giga Chikadze on May 1, though a location for the ESPN+-streamed event has yet to be announced.
Swanson has won two straight over Kron Gracie and Daniel Pineda, who he defeated at UFC 256 in Dec. 2020, which was a year removed from his impressive win over Gracie. It’s a nice turnaround for the longtime veteran, who had dropped four in a row prior to getting back on track.
Chikadze, meanwhile, is one of the hottest Featherweights in town, winning seven straight including his first five fights under the UFC banner. Four of those wins came in an eight-month span in 2020.
The event is expected to be headlined by a Light Heavyweight bout between Jiri Prochazka taking on Dominick Reyes. In further 205-pound action, Krzysztof Jotko takes on Sean Strickland.