Giga Chikadze feels he’s at the top of the featherweight division and wants his next steps to resemble that.
The striking expert is looking to be a backup fighter for the upcoming title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega at UFC 266 on Sept. 25. And if that’s not possible, he welcomes a fight with former champion Max Holloway.
“I’m here to fight the best fights and the biggest names,” Chikadze said in his post-fight interview. “I would love to cover the title shot and be a replacement fighter. If not, somebody Hawaiian who’s in the division. He knows my name. I saw him doing interviews and he said something like this, ‘Oh yeah I heard this Giga guy who kicks.’ I’m not just a Giga guy, I’m a guy who kicks the sh*t out of people.”
For Chikadze (14-2 MMA, 7-0 UFC), it’s title shot or Holloway and nothing else. With his main event win over Edson Barboza at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 30, Chikadze feels like he’s done more than enough now that he’s 7-0 since joining the UFC.
“I’m not interested in anything else,” Chikadze said at the post-fight press conference. “Like why? Everybody before this said no to me. I’ve been told that I’m going to fight a top-five guy and then the title. The top-five guy didn’t agree nobody agreed and that’s why I fought Edson, who is a bigger name than top five. So I want to see myself on a top-five next week ranking, top three actually.”
Watch the full post-fight press conference with Chikadze in the video above.
