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.
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