Giga Chikadze: the karate fighter facing a wrestling test
A third-dan karate black belt and former GLORY kickboxer from Tbilisi who became a UFC featherweight contender: Giga Chikadze's kicks, his losing run, and his freestyle wrestling match against Zabit Magomedsharipov.
Giga Chikadze was born on 25 August 1988 in Tbilisi. Known as “Ninja”, he started Gōjū-ryū karate at four or five and holds a third-dan black belt. Before MMA he was a kickboxer, reaching two GLORY featherweight contender tournament finals. In the UFC he fights at featherweight, and his record is 15 wins and 7 losses.
How he fights
Chikadze is a pure striker, known in the UFC featherweight division for his kicking game. Nine of his fifteen wins came by knockout or TKO. In 2021 he stopped Cub Swanson with a liver kick in the first minute and then beat Edson Barboza by TKO in a main event, which put him among the top contenders. He trains at Kings MMA in California under Rafael Cordeiro.
The grappling angle
Chikadze almost never shoots a takedown, and in the UFC he has stopped about two out of three attempts against him. Several of his losses ended on the feet or on the scorecards, but in April 2025 David Onama took him down three times out of three and controlled him for more than six minutes, one of the clearest examples in his UFC career of takedowns and control deciding a fight. His only submission loss came early, a rear naked choke on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018.
He has lost his last four fights, most recently a first-round knockout against Joanderson Brito at UFC 331 in September 2026.
Next: a wrestling match
On 14 November 2026 Chikadze steps into freestyle wrestling: he faces Zabit Magomedsharipov at Real American Freestyle in Abu Dhabi. For a karate fighter, against a Dagestani grappler returning after seven years away, that is about as big a test of grappling as there is.
What someone who trains three times a week can take from it
- Distance makes takedowns harder. Chikadze’s range makes it hard for opponents to time their entries. Footwork and distance management make it harder for anyone to shoot on you.
- Learn to get back up. Being taken down and held, as against Onama, is a striker’s biggest risk. Escaping control and standing up early is an essential skill.
- Try something new. A karate fighter accepting a wrestling match at 38 is a reminder that it’s never too late to learn a new side of grappling.