Giga Chikadze continued his dominant rise in the UFC, after a knockout victory over Edson Barboza in the main event of UFC Vegas 35. With that win, the Georgian took his win streak in the UFC to 7. Of late, it has become more of a regulation for Chikadze – enter the Octagon, knockout your opponent and walk home with the Performance of The Night Bonus followed by a ranking boost.
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Giga Chikadze revealed that he would have finished Edson Barboza earlier had he not held back from submitting him. ‘Ninja’ stated that he had promised to deliver a knockout and hence had to wait for the finish, despite getting a clear opportunity to submit Barboza once.
“I wanted to finish at some point with submission” – Giga Chikadze on his fight against Edson Barboza
Chikadze was quoted as saying, “I wanted to finish at some point with a submission but then I realized what I said — I said that I was going to knock him out. I had him on a very good D’arce [choke]. The first was the arm triangle and the octagon kind of saved him and although we were very close to the octagon, I was going to hold his leg with my legs so I could finish but the octagon helped him defend. Then I switched to D’arce.” [via MMA Fighting]
Giga Chikadze is fast-climbing the UFC featherweight ladder. He is unbeaten in the UFC, with seven wins on the trot in the space of just two years. With a record of 14-2 in his MMA career, the Georgian is currently looking marauding and might shake up the entire featherweight roster of the UFC.
He has also spoken about his ambition to face Max Holloway one day. He is currently ranked number 8 in the featherweight division and a couple of more wins will surely get him face to face with ‘Blessed’.
As for Barboza, he will have to bounce back from this TKO loss. Just when it looked like he was getting back on track, Chikadze put the skids on him. Since facing Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 219 in December 2017, his career has plunged massively. He will have to find another way to get himself back on track.
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