When the GLORY 39 featherweight “Contender” tournament participants were announced back in February there was one name conspicuously absent: Giga Chikadze. After his brutal first-round liver kick knockout win over Victor Pinto at GLORY 37, the No.3-ranked featherweight seemed like a shoe-in for the upcoming one-night, four man competition, but shockingly enough, he was not included.
Chikadze, 28, told MMA Plus he was offered a spot in the tournament, which now features the semi-final matchups: Serhiy Adamchuk vs. Nafi Bilalovski and Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao vs. Alexei Ulyanov, but he turned it down.
“They asked me, but I’m not fighting in the tournament because I feel like it’s already my time for a title fight without a tournament,” said Chikadze, who has now 5-2 in GLORY and has won four out of his last five fights. “Many guys had their chance without. I’m ranked No.3 in the division and it’s funny because Adamchuk is No.2 and he lost his last fight to me. And the division doesn’t have a champion [right now] and that’s why ‘RvR’ [Robin van Roosmalen] takes No.1 in the rankings. So, I don’t feel to participate in the tournament, plus, people have been talking about my and ‘RvR’s’ fight for a long time.”
The Georgian fighter wants van Roosmalen, who lost the featherweight title on the scale prior to his GLORY 37 knockout win over Matt Embree, or “at least a better contract for tournament,” if he is going to fight more than once in a given night, he said. “Because in tournament they pay the same money [as a single fight],” he added. “Only if I win the tournament it’s a little bit more money.”
Chikadze and van Roosmalen would undoubtedly be an explosive matchup. With “RvR” being the most powerful striker in the division going up against the unorthodox style of Chikadze, who will throw axe kicks, side kicks and other assorted spinning techniques, it would make for a very exciting and violent bout.
The promotion recently announced that van Roosmalen will be headlining GLORY 41 in Den Bosch, Netherlands on May 20, but they have not yet named an opponent for the former champion, or said that the winner of the GLORY 39 tournament will earn the shot against him for the title.
It seems likely that GLORY will go with the GLORY 39 tournament winner as the Kings MMA fighter mentioned he was offered a spot on the upcoming GLORY 43 card in New York, which takes place on July 21.
“I really want to fight on that card,” he said. “They told me I might fight Ulyanov, who is fighting in the tournament now.”
As for whatever matchup he ends up getting, Chikadze seems happy and content with his decision to turn down the tournament at GLORY 39. He’s confident he’s earned a shot at the title, but he revealed he’s not going to hold out for it. “I want to fight ‘RvR’, but I need to make some money as well.”
GLORY matchmakers Cor Hemmers and Erik Haycraft will assuredly decide after the GLORY 39 tournament who will face van Roosmalen for the title and Chikadze’s next matchup. Expect those to be announced in the coming weeks.
