Who is Giga Chikadze: The UFC's latest featherweight sensation

Giga Chikadze is the latest in the list of several UFC fighters from the country of Georgia to have made a name for themselves.

While Giga Chikadze’z crisp striking is already turning heads in the highly competitive UFC featherweight division, there is more than meets the eye.

Giga Chikadze’s story and his rise in MMA is a peculiar one.

Chikadze was born in 1989 in the Soviet SSR, just 2 years before the collapse of the soviet union.

His interest in martial arts could not have come as a surprise as his father was a Judoka for the Soviet Union.

However, Giga was more attracted to striking than throws and started training in Karate at a very young age.

Trying to learn that GIGAKICK! @giga_chikadze from 🇬🇪 with👊❤️ pic.twitter.com/kEh2GMCORk

— #OnAmission4Gold (@KelvinGastelum) December 5, 2020

Chikadze continued to experiment with other martial arts forms as well but was mostly interested in Goju Ryu school of Karate.

As teenage approached, he decided to mix things up a bit and started training as a kickboxer too.

Participating and winning many competitions, Giga Chikadze was seen as a rising medal prospect for the newly formed country of Georgia.

However, when the time came to turn professional, Giga opted to become a kickboxer rather than a Karateka.

He started with fights in the capital city of Tbilisi and soon enough gained a reputation as a KO artist.

Chikadze would also earn his Black belt in Karate during this time and then decided to shift to the United States to find better fights.

He would amass a record of 38-6 in kickboxing, 22 wins by KO, before deciding to look for a new challenge.

He joined Kings MMA in 2015. After an initial loss at lightweight, Chikadze moved down a weight division and has not looked back since.

He is currently on a 5 fight win streak with the promotion having fought 4 times in 2019.

He also has a post-fight bonus to his credit.

Giga Chikadze runs a Cancer charity called KO Cancer

Giga Chikadze recently announced his intention to help cancer patients, with his sister utilizing his new-found popularity in the UFC.

Giga had mentioned that his mother suffered from breast cancer when he was 17 years old.

And while she was initially cured of the disease, the recurrence in 2012 led to her passing away shortly afterward.

#knockoutcancer https://t.co/HtjYiOYEIm

— GIGA CHIKADZE (@giga_chikadze) December 5, 2020

Giga Chikadze was considerably close to his mother.

While understanding his love for sports, his mother, a scholar, ensured that Chikadze got a bachelor's degree in business too.

Therefore to honor his deceased mother and to help others suffering from the disease, Chikadze started the charity with his sister.