Giga Chikadze calls out Calvin Kattar as he looks to prove he’s the best striker in the UFC featherweight division
Giga Chikadze is looking for a fight against another ranked opponent.
After rattling off his sixth consecutive win since joining the UFC roster with a stunning first-round finish over Cub Swanson, the former GLORY kickboxer is hoping to take a step up in competition with his next fight.
Originally, Chikadze had targeted either Max Holloway or Yair Rodriguez as future opposition but then they were matched up together for a main event showdown on July 17.
That left Chikadze without an opponent so he’s turning his attention towards another top-10 ranked featherweight with hopes of booking his next fight sooner rather than later.
“Hey Calvin Kattar, when do you wanna fight?! I know you’ve been asked,” Chikadze wrote on Twitter. “P.S. I watched your interview saying you feel you ready to go!”
Hey @CalvinKattar when do you wanna fight?! I know you’ve been asked ...
— GIGA CHIKADZE (@giga_chikadze) May 26, 2021
P.S. I watched your interview saying you feel you ready to go! @ufc @danawhite @seanshelby @AliAbdelaziz00
Kattar last fought in January when he lost a lopsided decision to Holloway, which snapped his two-fight win streak with victories against Dan Ige and Jeremy Stephens. He hasn’t been booked for a fight since that setback earlier this year.
As for Chikadze, he previously expressed his disdain with the lack of ranked opponents stepping up to accept his challenge after he dispatched of Swanson in his last outing.
“Check this out, I’ve been in UFC [one and a half years, 6-0] and been asking for different opponents since then,” Chikadze wrote. “All of those ‘weirdos’ ignore me like never heard my name! No one has ever engaged on any social media platform. Who?! Giga? Oh, I don’t know who’s that guy. You all know.”
Check this out, I’ve been in @ufc 1,5 year (6:0) and been asking for different opponents since than. All of those “weirdos” ignore me like never heard my name! No one has ever engaged on any social media platform.
— GIGA CHIKADZE (@giga_chikadze) May 27, 2021
-Who?! Giga? Oh, I dont know who’s that guy
You all know #gigakick
6:0 in @ufc , Top10 ranked featherweight, World Champ in Karate and kickboxing multiple times and they still talkin sh*t. Feed me with top guys @danawhite
— GIGA CHIKADZE (@giga_chikadze) May 27, 2021
Prior to the Holloway vs. Rodriguez fight being put together, Chikadze had specifically targeted those two as potential opponents not only because it would move him closer to a shot at the featherweight title but he also sought to prove himself as the superior striker against two notable knockout artists in the division.
With a lengthy background in both karate and kickboxing before he transitioned to MMA, Chikadze knows he’s got the skills to stand and trade with anyone in the UFC and he welcomes the challenge for anyone to prove him wrong.
“I believe because I know it,” Chikadze said about being the best striker in the UFC. “I know this from the facts. If you guys check my background, I’ve been a fighter since before. I became a world champion in karate first, twice. European champion. Multiple time national karate champion and a different kind of karate. Not point karate or something. I fought from point to kyokushin and full contact, all different types of karate. I always when I was young, I was not fighting my age guys. I was fighting older people, higher age people with different weight divisions. My fights were always very entertaining.
“Then I moved to kickboxing, which wasn’t my sport. I just moved there because that was K-1 time and it was very popular and you could get paid there. I was a young guy when I got married, I was 18 and I knew that I wanted to feed my family from the money that I was going to get from the fights and karate pays sh*t. Nothing. So I had to do this move. For this, I really needed to do a hard boxing sessions so I did it. Then I moved into kickboxing and I got European title in muay Thai. I went to Thailand, fought in one of the top venues there and won all my fights. Then I moved back again in Netherlands and lived there for seven years and got my world title twice. What else I can dream about? I was in GLORY, I was in the finals twice in GLORY kickboxing. I beat a couple of champions. At the time, I was the No. 1 contender, the champions were running for me and they were not taking the fights.”
With his past two fights ending by way of knockout in the UFC, Chikadze believes he’s finally hitting his stride and he’s hoping some top ranked featherweights are ready to accept his challenge.
“Every single time, I fought outside of the UFC in MMA, my wins were first round, first minute knockouts,” Chikadze said. “Now I’m getting what I wanted to get inside the UFC octagon. I can talk a lot and nobody can argue that.”
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