Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight Giga Chikadze will be headlining his first UFC event on Saturday, August 28. And you can now watch the best moments from the Georgian’s rapid rise into elite status in the division.
Outside of two bumps in his 15 fight run in the sport, Giga Chikadze’s transition from talented kickboxer to surging mixed martial arts star has been a success. However, one of those bumps in the road to UFC Vegas 35 was a major one. In June 2018, the 33-year-old competed on the second season of Dana White’s Contender Series. Yet, unlike his recent run in the Octagon, Chikadze’s UFC hopes were thwarted on that night by a submission win from Austin Springer.
The defeat pushed “Ninja’s” eventual jump to the UFC back over a year. However, since joining the roster, the former Glory Kickboxing star has not disappointed.
Watch Giga Chikadze highlights in his rise to UFC Vegas 35 main event
Since his promotional debut in September 2019, he has won all six of his UFC fights. And although there were some close call split-decision victories at first, the 13-2 talent has only gotten better as he further assimilates to the confines of the fabled Octagon.
After four straight decision wins, Chikadze has scored back-to-back technical knockout victories. With the most recent coming against one of the better featherweights of the last decade in Cub Swanson. The aging but still dangerous veteran represented Chikadze’s most important test yet, and the Kings MMA star dispatched of “Killer” in 63 seconds, and earned a spot in the top-10 of the division from it.
On Saturday, inside the UFC Apex, Chikadze takes another step forward in his MMA development, and up in competition, against another long-time promotional veteran in ninth-ranked Edson Barboza. A former lightweight contender who has transitioned to the smaller weight class nicely, and poses the most dangerous striking threat Chikadze has faced yet in the UFC.
You can watch some of the best most from Chikadze’s rise to his first main event — including his wins over Swanson, Jamey Simmons, and Omar Morales — in the embedded video above.
UFC Vegas 35 takes place on Aug. 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event will kick off at 7 pm ET on ESPN+. Main card action follows at 10 pm ET and will simulcast on ESPN and ESPN+.
