Those would be Ilia Topuria and Merab Dvalishvili, the former competing for featherweight gold against Alexander Volkanovski, the latter up against Henry Cejudo in a possible title eliminator.
With such a big night for Georgia, rest assured Chikadze did what he could to be part of the card. And yes, he reached out to the promotion to get on it.
“I did, I did, I did earlier, before. Yeah definitely. Once I got injured— I was hoping that, you know [Josh] Emmett fought Bryce [Mitchell] and he just got one shot and didn’t get injured or nothing. So I was hoping maybe since February is the month of Georgia, the Roman [Dolidze] main event, the Ilia main event for title, Merab is a title elimination, I was hoping maybe I could hop on that card and celebrate with Georgia in February,” Chikadze told Cageside Press this week. “But in this moment I’m just a fan, I’m just a friend, I’m just a Georgian who supports his boys and I can’t wait to watch them.”
When we spoke with Giga Chikadze he was fresh off teaching a kid’s class — an opportunity and responsibility he clearly takes to heart.
“We are all ambassadors of this sport. Because this sport is such a young sport that, anything we do can effect our sport right now. And this can effect it in the future as well,” said Chikadze. “So I’m trying to be a good role model for the sport, and obviously I’m trying to share all the knowledge and little secrets sometimes with the kids, so they can use it and they can be a better fighter and better athlete in the future.”
Watch our full interview with UFC star Giga Chikadze above.
