Georgian Fighter, Giga Chikadze Talks about his upcoming fight with Omar Morales at UFC Fight Night 179 on Fight Island on Saturday, October 10, 2020.
Giga Chikadze started off as a Goju-Ryu Karate fighter at the age of 14 in Eastern Europe, making his professional kickboxing debut, now Chikadze has transitioned to Mixed Martial Arts and holds a 10-2 record. On Saturday, October 10, 2020, Chikadze will be facing Venezuelan striker, Omar Morales, a 10-0 fighter in the Lightweight, 155 lb. weight division.
We spoke to Chikadze about his upcoming fight, how kata is still useful in his martial arts training and how he sees this fight against Morales going. Hit, it’s probably going to be a lot of stand up with a transition to the ground as Chikadze has developed his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills quite well in the last couple of years.
At 6’0″, Chikadze is a larger fighter for his usual weight classes of Featherweight (145 lbs) and Lightweight, but has been making weight throughout the years as, like most Eastern European fighters, discipline is a part of not only training but life. Chikadze’s own son has begun training in wrestling and puts on some gloves to hit the bag at and he’s barely old enough to go to school. His daughter is now acting and modeling in ads, so you know the Chikaze family is talented in not only combat sports but the arts as well.
His opponent, Omar Morales last fought on May 13, 2020, almost 5 months to the day and defeating Gabriel Beniftez by unanimous decision. Chikadze was supposed to fight on August 29, 2020, against Alex Caceres, but that fight was cancelled. His prior fight was on May 16, 2020 against Irwin Rivera, who he beat by unanimous decision as well.
Follow Giga Chikadze on Twitter @giga_chikadze and on Instagram @knockoutcancer.
UFC 179 will be streaming on ESPN+