The Octagon is back on the road on Saturday night with the T-Mobile Center being the destination for April 26th.
Kansas City will play host to a UFC Fight Night card that boasts some exciting matchups with a fantastic welterweight main event to top it off.
Ian Machado Garry has had some harsh words for Carlos Prates ahead of their five-round showdown that promises some edge-of-your-seat striking exchanges.
In the co-main event, Anthony Smith will make his final walk to the cage to cap off a great career when he takes on the dangerous knockout artist Zhang Mingyang.
A sneakily good fight of the night candidate on the main card was at risk of falling apart following the single weight miss on April 25th but the matchup will still go ahead as planned after Giga Chikadze hit 147-pounds for his featherweight clash with David Onama.
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Giga Chikadze says his weight miss wasn’t his fault but it’s not a big issue
In 10 UFC fights, Giga Chikadze has never failed to hit the featherweight limit until this weekend in Kansas City.
The Georgian is in need of a bounce back win following his one-sided loss to Arnold Allen at UFC 304 last year but to get his hand raised, he will need to halt the three-fight win streak of David Onama.
Coming into 2022, Chikadze was quickly climbing up the 145-pound ladder following a run of three consecutive performance of the night bonuses with stoppage wins over the likes of Edson Barboza and Cub Swanson.
His stock took a significant hit following a beatdown at the hands of Calvin Kattar which led to a long period of inactivity for ‘Ninja’.
After his weight miss ahead of fight night, there is now even more at stake for Chikadze if he’s going to rebuild his momentum to get back in the mix at 145-pounds.
Despite this, he told Inside Fighting that he doesn’t believe that his weight miss is a big deal because he was only a small amount over the 146-pound limit.
Chikadze also claimed that an error was made at some point because he believed was on weight when he checked before he stepped onto the official scale.
Regardless of what the reason was, he has forfeited 20 percent of his purse to his opponent with the fight going ahead as planned.
“I thought I did everything so when I made the weight in my scale, it was like pretty much I did all healthy, I didn’t hurt myself and then I was already there ready and loaded with all the electrolytes and I was like, you know, we did it. I don’t think it was my mistake but you know, sometimes things like that happen. Never happened in my life but I guess first time and it’s not something that was major, missed weight or something. It’s all good. I feel like 0.7 pounds is no big difference there.”
Giga Chikadze thanked Dana White now that he is feeling healthier than ever
Giga Chikadze took significant time off in order to recover some injuries that he had previously been fighting through during his time in the UFC.
Despite his weight miss, the Georgian striker is confident that on April 26th, he will finally get to show what he’s truly capable of now that he’s healthy.
He thanked Dana White in a backstage interview with the UFC for helping him to step inside the Octagon in the best shape possible.
“Finally, it feels great. I’ve been looking for this moment for all my life. I did multiple surgeries but thanks God and thank you Dana as well, because of his superhuman protocol, we’re really keeping up that and it’s been really helpful. A lot of people been helping me a lot and I can’t wait to show you guys finally what healthy Giga can show.”
The 36-year-old currently holds the #12-ranking in the featherweight division so a win over David Onama could put him right back in the frame for a top 10 matchup in the near future.