Tag: giga chikadze

Chikadze Wants to Close Language Barrier With Zombie Inside Octagon

Giga Chikadze knows that he and Chan Sung Jung don’t speak the same language, but he believes the two fighters would understand each other perfectly if they step into the cage together. The issues between the two featherweights date back to when the UFC chose to slot “The Korean Zombie” in as a replacement for…

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Giga Chikadze knows that he and Chan Sung Jung don’t speak the same language, but he believes the two fighters would understand each other perfectly if they step into the cage together.

The issues between the two featherweights date back to when the UFC chose to slot “The Korean Zombie” in as a replacement for Max Holloway to fight featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski. Chikadze had also been lobbying for the matchup, and the Georgian didn’t hesitate to criticize Volkanovski for taking an “easy” fight against Zombie.

Chikadze’s candidacy for the title shot took a hit following his unanimous decision loss to Calvin Kattar, prompting Zombie to hit back at Chikadze on social media after the fight. Zombie ended up losing his title bid against Volkanovski in April, and last week Chikadze formally called him out for a fight.

In a recent interview with The Schmo, the Georgian elaborated on why a fight between him and Zombie makes sense.

Chikadze (left) lost a unanimous decision to Calvin Kattar in his last fight. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

“I feel like if he wants to do one more fight, that’s the only option for him,” said Chikadze. “He had a lot to say after my fight, after my last fight, which a lot of people say this and that, but especially Zombie had a lot to say. So I really would love to see him in the Octagon and talk about —  you know he don’t speak English and I don’t speak Korean, but we have some language that we both speak. And I believe we can fix it, and talk, and have a little conversation inside the Octagon.”

Chikadze’s loss to Kattar was his first in the UFC, while Zombie’s loss to Volkanovski was his second failed bid at the UFC featherweight title. Both men took a considerable amount of damage in those fights; but given their respective styles a matchup between the two could be compelling.

With Zombie currently #5 and Chikadze #8 in the UFC’s featherweight rankings, the matchup certainly makes sense if either man wants to maintain their status as a top fighter. It also could help clear up the featherweight title picture leading up to the third fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway later this year.

What do you think of Chikadze’s explanation for his call out of The Korean Zombie?

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Giga Chikadze Calls Out Korean Zombie For His Next UFC Fight

UFC featherweight Giga Chikadze wants a shot at ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung for his next appearance in the Octagon. Chikadze is coming off of his first UFC loss against Calvin Kattar in January via a unanimous decision. He and Kattar earned ‘Fight of the Night’ honors and an extra $50k each. Before the…

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UFC featherweight Giga Chikadze wants a shot at ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung for his next appearance in the Octagon.

Chikadze is coming off of his first UFC loss against Calvin Kattar in January via a unanimous decision. He and Kattar earned ‘Fight of the Night’ honors and an extra $50k each.

Before the loss to Kattar, Chikadze had been on a roll in the UFC featherweight division. Following a debut win over Brandon Davis in Sept. 2019, he went on a seven-fight winning streak which included finishes over Cub Swanson and Edson Barboza.

Now, Chikadze wants to get back into the featherweight title picture, and he has his eyes on the latest title challenger Jung. Earlier this year at UFC 273, Jung suffered a lopsided defeat to Alexander Volkanovski in his second career UFC title shot.

In a recent tweet, Chikadze pitched a fight with Jung.

“Let’s do this [Korean Zombie],” Chikadze tweeted Wednesday.

Before the loss to Volkanovski, Jung earned the title shot by defeating Dan Ige last June. He earned the fight against Volkanovski after former champion Max Holloway pulled out of his originally-scheduled fight due to an injury.

Jung seemed non-committal on his fighting future just hours after UFC 273. But now he has a chance to earn another big-name win if the Chikadze fight comes to fruition.

Volkanovski will face Holloway later this year in a rescheduled trilogy bout. If Chikadze vs. Zombie takes place, the winner could potentially earn a No. 1 contender fight at the very least.

Do you want to see Giga Chikadze vs. The Korean Zombie next?

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Volkanovski: Chikadze Wouldn’t Have Deserved Title Fight With Kattar Win

Despite their recent social media banter, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski didn’t even consider Giga Chikadze a potential next opponent. Chikadze fell to Calvin Kattar at UFC Vegas 46 via unanimous decision and left the Octagon bloodied and battered by Kattar’s boxing. He had won nine straight fights entering the bout. Volkanovski was supposed to […]

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Despite their recent social media banter, UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski didn’t even consider Giga Chikadze a potential next opponent.

Chikadze fell to Calvin Kattar at UFC Vegas 46 via unanimous decision and left the Octagon bloodied and battered by Kattar’s boxing. He had won nine straight fights entering the bout.

Volkanovski was supposed to face Max Holloway for his next title defense before Holloway pulled out due to an injury. Chikadze had been one of the first featherweight contenders who threw his name into the conversation after news broke of Holloway’s withdrawal.

Volkanovski and the UFC opted to give Chan Sung Jung, otherwise known as ‘The Korean Zombie’, the next title shot as a replacement. This irked Chikadze and created quite the tension between him and the champion.

During a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, Volkanovski revealed whether or not he would’ve considered facing Chikadze next if he got the better of Kattar.

“Mate, to be honest, when he was carrying (I thought) not only does he have to win to even start talking, you know, let’s try and get out of that fight unscathed before you even ask, but then, I still don’t think he’d deserve it,” Volkanovski said. “Remember, he’s ranked #8. He was ranked #8 and he was fighting #5… He’s so surprised that I’m fighting Zombie; these guys (contenders for the title shot) are ranked higher than him, (and) were gonna be ranked higher than him even if he won. It just doesn’t make sense. Yeah you’ve got a winning streak, but let’s fight some contenders, let’s fight some top guys, and you did and look what happened.”

In the buildup to UFC Vegas 46, Chikadze blasted Volkanovski as a “chump” and alluded to losing respect for the 145-pound champion. After his loss to Kattar, he’ll likely need to go on another winning streak to get back into the featherweight title discussion.

If Volkanovski beats Jung, the UFC will more than likely attempt to book the Holloway trilogy again. For now, it appears that Chikadze is a long way off from getting a title shot against Volkanovski.

Do you think we’ll ever see Alexander Volkanovski vs. Giga Chikadze?

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Calvin Kattar Reacts To Giga Chikadze’s Saying He’d Beat Him 9 Of 10 Times

calvin kattarUFC featherweight Calvin Kattar has responded to former foe Giga Chikadze, saying that he would beat Kattar nine out of 10 times. Last Saturday Kattar and Chikadze produced an entertaining fight that would kick off the 2022 UFC schedule. It would see the return of Kattar after he suffered a one-sided defeat against Max Holloway, […]

calvin kattar

UFC featherweight Calvin Kattar has responded to former foe Giga Chikadze, saying that he would beat Kattar nine out of 10 times.

Last Saturday Kattar and Chikadze produced an entertaining fight that would kick off the 2022 UFC schedule. It would see the return of Kattar after he suffered a one-sided defeat against Max Holloway, take on the division’s hottest prospect in Chikadze.

Coming into the bout, the more proven and higher ranked Kattar was the betting underdog against Chikadze who had gained some hype following his recent performances which included stoppages wins over Cub Swanson and Edson Barboza.

The Georgian was highly confident going into the matchup, even calling for a fight with current divisional champion, Alexander Volkanovski following Holloway’s dropout. The fight however was all Kattar, who would win every single round on all of the scorecards including a 10-8

Even though Kattar produced a shut-out performance, Chikadze is still confident he is the better fighter.

“I feel like if I would fight with this guy 10 times, 9 I would win,” Chikadze said. “That would be the one I would lose and that was last night. It is what it is. I made mistake and I’m paying now with it. It’s all good. Guys, I’m unbreakable. Remember this shit, Georgians always unbreakable. This is how we fight, until the fucking end.”

Calvin Kattar Responds To Giga Chikadze

Calvin Kattar, who had no bad words to say about Chikadze following their bout, even posing for a photo in the hospital would have every right to be annoyed by these comments but the Bostonian always keeps in respectful.

When talking to Ariel Helwani on the latest episode of The MMA hour, Kattar was asked about the comments, answering how you’d expect, even wishing the Georgian well.

“No, no, it’s different when you hear people in person in interviews, but I don’t take it personal, man,” said Kattar. “It’s whatever, you know, wish him a speedy recovery, bounce back. I told him all you can do now is make the next guy pay. That’s exactly what I did. And hopefully, he responds to the loss well.

“It doesn’t sound like it’s going that way early, but hopefully he just understands that—honestly he can understand whatever he wants. For me, it helped me to just focus on the things that I can control and focus on the comeback but not so much really the last one.” (Transcribed by MMA NEWS)

What’s next for Calvin Kattar?

Kattar Responds To Chikadze Saying He’d Beat Him 9 Times Out Of 10

UFC featherweight contender Calvin Kattar has responded to Giga Chikadze’s claim that he’d beat “The Boston Finisher” nine times out of 10.

For Chikadze, the one exception came in the opening UFC main event of 2022 this past weekend. “Ninja” faced …

Calvin Kattar, UFC Vegas 46: Chikadze vs. Kattar

UFC featherweight contender Calvin Kattar has responded to Giga Chikadze’s claim that he’d beat “The Boston Finisher” nine times out of 10.

For Chikadze, the one exception came in the opening UFC main event of 2022 this past weekend. “Ninja” faced top-five 145lber Kattar in what was the Methuen native’s first appearance since his brutal defeat to Max Holloway last January.

Despite having a tough and proven name who represented the biggest challenge of his career to date in front of him, a lot of Chikadze’s focus and attention during fight week appeared to be elsewhere. After Alexander Volkanovski was left needing a challenger to his title after the withdrawal of Holloway, the Georgian threw his name into the hat and repeatedly accused the champion of running from him.

But on Saturday night, Kattar made him pay for looking past him, something he warned Chikadze he’d do beforehand. Across five rounds, “The Boston Finisher” bruised and bloodied the #8-ranked contender’s face on his way to a dominant unanimous decision triumph.

In the aftermath of the entertaining headliner, Chikadze turned heads on a Facebook Live when he suggested he’d be the one with his hand raised nine times out of 10 against Kattar.

“I feel like if I would fight with this guy 10 times, 9 I would win,” Chikadze said. “That would be the one I would lose and that was last night. It is what it is. I made mistake and I’m paying now with it. It’s all good. Guys, I’m unbreakable. Remember this shit, Georgians always unbreakable. This is how we fight, until the fucking end.”

Kattar Responds With Class

Hearing those comments from a man you’ve just beaten the face off for 25 minutes would understandably elicit a strong response from most members of the UFC roster. But for Kattar, the only response was class.

During an appearance on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, Kattar said he hadn’t taken Chikadze’s comments personally. Instead, the #5-ranked featherweight wished his fallen opponent a quick recovery and encouraged the Georgian to handle the loss well.

“No, no, it’s different when you hear people in person in interviews, but I don’t take it personal, man,” said Kattar. “It’s whatever, you know, wish him a speedy recovery, bounce back. I told him all you can do now is make the next guy pay. That’s exactly what I did. And hopefully, he responds to the loss well. It doesn’t sound like it’s going that way early, but hopefully  he just understand that—honestly he can understand whatever he wants. For me, it helped me to just focus on the things that I can control and focus on the comeback but not so much really the last one.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CYrkHx7PerX/

Having rebounded in style following a year away from the Octagon, Kattar will now look to continue his charge to the title, which was stalled by Holloway in 2021. Next up on his road to the top will likely be either Yair Rodriguez or Brian Ortega, who are coming off losses to the top-two featherweights in the division.

What did you make of Giga Chikadze’s comments after his loss to Calvin Kattar?

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Alexander Volkanovski Blasts Giga Chikadze After Calvin Kattar Loss

Alexander Volkanovski, Giga ChikadzeUFC 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 […]

Alexander Volkanovski, Giga Chikadze

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?