Google News Giga Chikadze frustrated over UFC rankings
by | VIEW 341
Georgian UFC lightweight fighter Giga Chikadze had high expectations after last weekend's victory against Edson Barboza when it comes to the official UFC ranking. Georgian mentioned that he hopes to jump into the Top 5, but his jump, in the end, is realistic and expected.
Namely, before the fight against Barboza, Chikadze was ten-ranked on the list of challengers in the lightweight category, and his against Edson Barboza was ninth. Chikadze’s third-round knockout victory pushed two places up and now occupies eighth place in the standings.
Giga explained his dissatisfaction in an MMA Junkie interview. I’m not happy with it,” Chikadze told MMA Junkie. “I was No. 10. I beat No. 9, but it was not just a regular No. 9, and it was not a decision, not a split decision, not a close fight.
" "As I said: I kick the sh*t out of people. So this is what happened this weekend. When you beat somebody like Edson Barboza and you are No. 10 and he’s No. 9, you don’t just go one more and become No. 8. I have to be somewhere in the top five." “I was hoping to get top three, because in the top three there’s another guy (Yair Rodriguez) who has not fought in all this time since I’m in UFC, and I fought seven times – seven times in less than two years."
Giga is frustrated
"That’s something that really has to be mentioned.
They put me just top eight, so I was a little bit sad”. “I’m just upset (about) the ranking,” Chikadze said. “I want to see myself as one of the top guys because because I want to fight for the title very soon – as fast as possible.
I want to be a replacement for the title fight. If not, I want to fight Max or Yair … something that would get me to the title – (‘Korean Zombie’)." "Or you know what? Even if they gave me Kattar, I wouldn’t be upset”.
Realistically, it was hard to expect Chikadze to jump into the Top 5, and especially into the top 3, with a win against ninth-ranked Barboza. However, his statement regarding Yair Rodriguez makes some sense. The Mexican has not really fought since October 2019 and a win over Jeremy Stephens, and occupies a very high position in the UFC lightweight category.
We’ll see what the UFC has in store for Giga next, maybe satisfy his wishes and honor him with a fight that if he wins gets a chance to attack the much-coveted belt currently owned by Alexander Volkanovsky.
