Giga Chikadze lived up to the hype?

[Marko Polo]

I haven’t been impressed with Giga’s last few performances honestly. I think it’s great when a fighter try’s new things, but completely changing up your style from being offensive looking to damage into pitter patter, particularly at a late stage in your career, it never really bodes well. Gaethje did it but he is a much better fighter than Giga and was able to find success in that style

Giga on the other hand has always seemed a bit delusional to me, but he has provided some great highlights over the years

 

[Brigfa2]

He is not a Giga but he is not a kilo either, i think he is Mega. Solid top 7 guy

 

[usernamee]

I was never impressed with him, at least not in terms of "wow he's champ material or champ contender material"

edi: added some older posts dating back to 2020 for receipts, motherfucker

I've never been particularly impressed with Giga tbh

Shame, I hoped Giga might be something special

Giga has been a disappointment to my extremely high expectations I had, which I partly blame for Giga himself, his big talk and how he has carried himself

He's gotten tons of great matchups but only has like what, one finish?

 

[Tweak896]

I mean Giga almost beat Allen in his last fight, if you want to call him a disappointment, then Allen is as well for barely scraping past Giga.

 

[World eater]

I was always impressed by his name though. Top 3 in the UFC next to Themba Gorimbo and Denis Tiuliulin.

 

[Portland8242]

Nah.

He was pretty cocky up until getting humbled by Kattar.

 

[svmr_db]

I mean Giga almost beat Allen in his last fight, if you want to call him a disappointment, then Allen is as well for barely scraping past Giga.

I wouldn't say "barely" just because Giga won the first round, Arnold was in control pretty clearly for rounds 2 & 3 imo.

 

[TheMadHatter]

i think he is fairly old for the division too. I think he is trending toward gatekeeper material at this point of his career.

 

[Luthien]

Never got into him

 

[Elegant]

I never knew where the hype came from in the first place

Was it from beating old men Swanson and Barboza? If so lol

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Nah.

He was pretty cocky up until getting humbled by Kattar.

Exactly.. depending on what hype.

I think most people thought he was good. But damn the dude was saying he was going to beat Max and he was the best striker and all of that.. and got beaten the shit out of by Kattar.

 

[Tweak896]

I wouldn't say "barely" just because Giga won the first round, Arnold was in control pretty clearly for rounds 2 & 3 imo.

I mean I agree, I'm talking about the 2nd round being pretty close from what I remember. While I agree Allen turned it on in the 2nd half of the fight, he was losing a significant portion from the beginning. Looked it up and Allen barely outlanded Giga 16 to 13 in the 2nd round. All I'm saying is if Giga was 3 punches away from living up to the hype, then he wasn't that far off.

Personally I'm a fan of Allen and Giga, so to see anyone putting down either guy is not good. Their fight was a tit for tat war for the majority of it. Allen should get props for beating Giga at his strength as well.

 

[achoo42]

I thought Giga would be the next Edson Barboza—explosive kicker who was weak to pressure but always was live for a KO—but it doesn't seem like Giga generates enough power to be that kind of a KO threat. Still a fun fighter though.

 

[Bork Neslar]

Kind of.

 

[arcadeperfect]

I think he was a ranked Glory kickboxer, but it's apparent he has some glaring flaws. He relies solely on throwing roundhouse kicks which means once he gets crowded by his opponent he becomes far less effective.

 

[humdizzle]

was never really that high on him. he'll probably stay around rank 5-10.

after his first round of kicks he was gassing out against Allen. i've never seen a fighter run backwards that much in a fight.

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Yes and no.

Hes 8-2 in the UFC and top 10 level in one of the stronger divisions. But then I guess if you take into account the hype and weight of expectation coming in with high level kickboxing experience, hes no Izzy or Poatan.

 

[Neck&Neck]

He was never my friend

 

[StonedLemur]

I was never impressed with him, at least not in terms of "wow he's champ material or champ contender material"

edi: added some older posts dating back to 2020 for receipts, motherfucker

Glad you brought the receipts, because I thought I was overcharged for the king po chicken lol.

 

[StonedLemur]

was never really that high on him. he'll probably stay around rank 5-10.

after his first round of kicks he was gassing out against Allen. i've never seen a fighter run backwards that much in a fight.

Conor and Izzy both ran miles more sir.