The long awaited return of the “Giga Kick” and the man who wields it, Georgian Giga Chikadze, will take place next month.
Chikadze (14-3) will face Alex Caceres (21-13, 1NC) in featherweight action as part of UFC Singapore on August 26, 2023 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The fight will mark Chikadze’s first since January 2022.
Cageside Press confirmed the booking on Thursday, following an initial report by MMA Junkie.
Chikadze’s last action came in a losing effort against Calvin Kattar in the main event of UFC on ESPN 42. A nasty five-round war saw the Georgian lumped up; he was expected to return against Sodiq Yusuff in September 2022, only for injury to take him out of that fight.
Prior to the Kattar loss, Giga Chikadze had strung together seven straight wins inside the octagon and nine overall, including finishes of Cub Swanson and Edson Barboza.
At 35, longtime UFC veteran Alex “Bruce Leeroy” Cacares is on the best run of his professional fighter career, having won seven of his past eight fights. That includes victories over Daniel Pineda and Julian Erosa in his past two outings.
Headlining UFC Singapore will be another featherweight pairing, as former champ Max Holloway takes on fellow fan-favorite Chan Sung Jung, better known as The Korean Zombie. The following fights have been reported for the card:
- Max Holloway vs. Jung Chan-sung
- Anthony Smith vs. Ryan Spann
- Taila Santos vs. Erin Blanchfield
- Song Kenan vs. Rolando Bedoya
- Chidi Njokuani vs. Michał Oleksiejczuk
- Junior Tafa vs. Parker Porter
- Waldo Cortes-Acosta vs. Łukasz Brzeski
- Liang Na vs. JJ Aldrich
- Rinya Nakamura vs. Fernie Garcia
- Yusaku Kinoshita vs. Billy Goff
- Toshiomi Kazama vs. Garrett Armfield
- Choi Seung-woo vs. Jarno Errens
- Giga Chikadze vs. Alex Caceres
