Giga
Chikadze
was once the talk of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division, but an
extended absence from competition has made him something of a
forgotten man at 145 pounds.
The
Kings MMA rep will return to the cage for the first time in
more than 19 months when he tackles
Alex
Caceres in a featured
UFC Fight Night 225 attraction on Saturday at Singapore Indoor
Stadium in Kallang, Singapore. Chikadze has won nine of his past 10
bouts. He last appeared at UFC on ESPN 32, where he wound up on the
wrong side of a five-round unanimous decision against
Calvin
Kattar on Jan. 15, 2022. Caceres, meanwhile, steps up to the
plate on the strength of back-to-back wins. “The Ultimate Fighter”
Season 12 alum last competed on June 3, when he was awarded a
unanimous verdict over
Daniel
Pineda at UFC on ESPN 46.
As Chikadze and Caceres approach their forthcoming confrontation in
Southeast Asia, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied
them to this point:
35: Years of age for Chikadze, who was born on Aug. 25, 1988 in
Tbilisi, Georgia.
4: Chikadze victories by decision, accounting for 29% of his career
total (14). The complete list of those he has outpointed:
Omar
Morales,
Irwin
Rivera,
Jamall
Emmers and
Brandon
Davis. Chikadze owns nine other victories by knockout or
technical knockout (64%) and one more by submission (7%).
200,000: Dollars in post-fight bonuses banked by Chikadze across
his eight assignments in the UFC. He has been awarded “Performance
of the Night” three times and “Fight of the Night” once.
3: Countries in which Chikadze has suited up as a professional
mixed martial artist. He has gone 12-3 in the United States, 1-0 in
Denmark and 1-0 in the United Arab Emirates.
.727: Cumulative winning percentage between the three
opponents—Kattar,
Austin
Springer and
Gil
Guardado—who have beaten Chikadze. They sport a combined record
of 40-15.
35: Years of age for Caceres, who was born in Miami on June 20,
1988.
10: Caceres wins by decision, accounting for 48% of his career
total (21). The complete list of those he has outpointed: Pineda,
Kevin
Croom,
Chase
Hooper,
Steven
Peterson,
Martin
Bravo,
Cole Miller,
Masio
Fullen,
Roland
Delorme,
Motonobu
Tezuka and
Cole
Escovedo. Caceres holds four other wins by knockout or
technical knockout (19%) and seven more by submission (33%).
912: Significant strikes landed by Caceres as a UFC featherweight,
placing him sixth on the promotion’s all-time list at 145 pounds.
Only
Max
Holloway (2,817),
Cub Swanson
(1,396),
Alexander
Volkanovski (1,320),
Darren
Elkins (1,127) and
Shane
Burgos (1,040) have been credited with more.
65: Seconds needed for Caceres to put away
Joel Garcia
with a triangle choke at an Xtreme Fight Nights event on May 14,
2009. More than 14 years later, it remains his fastest finish to
date.
212: Combined victories between the 13 opponents—
Sodiq
Yusuff,
Kron
Gracie,
Guan Wang,
Jason
Knight,
Yair
Rodriguez,
Francisco
Rivera,
Masanori
Kanehara,
Urijah
Faber,
Edwin
Figueroa,
Jim Hettes,
Mackens
Semerzier,
Matt McCook
and
Farkhad
Sharipov—who have defeated Caceres. They boast a cumulative
.724 winning percentage at 212-79-6.