Giga Chikadze's confidence remains intact after his brutal defeat to Calvin Kattar last Saturday at UFC Vegas 46.
At UFC Vegas 46, Calvin Kattar showed his resilience by rebounding from the year-opening card of last year that saw him take a savage beating from Max Holloway. This time, it was him dishing out the beating across five rounds to kick off the year, with Chikadze's face at the conclusion of the bout telling the tale of how the fight transpired.
Seeing as how, prior to UFC Vegas 46, Chikadze was vocal about fighting Alexander Volkanovski for the title next, including preemptively requesting to replace Max Holloway against him this spring, many people thought this was a humbling experience for Chikadze.
One notable person to react to Chikadze's loss was Chan Sung Jung, aka "The Korean Zombie," who was ultimately chosen to replace Holloway for the featherweight title fight in a move that Chikadze criticized as Volkanovski selecting the easy fight. After Chikadze's loss on Saturday, Jung hit him with the ol' face-palm emoji on social media.
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Chikadze would issue the following statement in response to the criticism he received immediately following the fight and also addressed The Korean Zombie's reaction to his defeat.
Thank you my real supporters! I love you all and owe you speed comeback. Lot of fake people around, but it's okay. Also fuck you Korean Zombie! Be happy with someone’s (loss) you cheap fuck," Chikadze wrote.
Chikadze Remains Confident Despite "Mistake," Warns Future Opponents
Giga Chikadze would have much more to say later in a Facebook Live after the fight. The Georgian chalked the loss up to an error on his part and vowed to return after making the necessary adjustments.
“It is what it is,” Chikadze said on Facebook Live. “It was not my day, but it’s okay. Sometimes it happens, shit. It was a good fight. My opponent showed up good. I made mistake...
“I’m gonna recover a little bit, guys. I know you guys are following my journey, and this is a part of the journey. When I signed up for the sport, I knew this was a part (of it). I fucked up last night, but it’s all good. It’s a journey. I’m learning from this, and next time, I’m gonna come back so much stronger. I already feel bad for my future opponents. I’m gonna learn a lot from this one; trust me on that.”
Chikadze also displayed the same confidence about a future matchup against Kattar that he had coming into their UFC Vegas 46 bout. In fact, the Georgian would imply that Kattar's victory Saturday was tantamount to a fluke based on him chalking the loss up to a mistake and considering his assessment of how a 10-fight series between them would play out.
“I feel like if I would fight with this guy 10 times, 9 I would win,” Chikadze said. “That would be the one I would lose and that was last night. It is what it is. I made mistake and I’m paying now with it. It’s all good. Guys, I’m unbreakable. Remember this shit, Georgians always unbreakable. This is how we fight, until the fucking end.”
What are your thoughts on Giga Chikadze's comments following UFC Vegas 46?