After more than a year-and-a-half on the sidelines, Giga
Chikadze made a successful return to the Octagon at UFC Fight
Night 225.
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The 35-year-old Kings MMA product engaged in a back-and-forth
standup battle with Alex
Caceres, eventually emerging with a unanimous decision triumph
in their featured featherweight clash at Singapore Indoor Stadium
in Kallang, Singapore, on Saturday. It was Chikadze’s first bout
since dropping a five-round verdict to Calvin
Kattar in the UFC on ESPN 32 headliner on Jan. 15, 2022.
“It feels so great. I can’t even explain,” Chikadze said in a
post-fight interview with the UFC. “It’s been a pretty long time,
and I felt like I was without a job. Finally I got my dream job
back, and I haven’t been so happy for a long time. So finally,
we’re back baby … It’s been 15 minutes, and I feel like every
second I looked great, and I’m pretty happy after one-and-a-half
year layoff with my performance.”
Caceres was competitive throughout the 15-minute affair, but
Chikadze typically landed the more impactful strikes during the
15-minute affair.
“People were telling me that he was breaking in the fight, but I
feel like he did a good job staying the whole 15 minutes … I’m a
big fan of the guy for a long time,” Chikadze said. “I didn’t want
to say that earlier because I don’t like to (say) good stuff about
my opponent before the fight.”
As it stands, Chikadze has been victorious in eight of nine
appearances within the Las Vegas-based promotion. With that in
mind, he has his sights set on a high-profile matchup for his next
outing.
“I want to fight [on the] pay-per-view card [UFC 296] in December,”
Chikadze said. “I’ve never fought on a pay-per-view card, and I
know it’s going to be a huge show. I want to be there and I want to
compete against ‘El Pantera’ Yair
Rodriguez.”
Rodriguez, a former interim featherweight champion, is coming off a
third-round technical knockout loss to Alexander
Volkanovski in a title unification bout at UFC 290 on July 8.