The Octagon is back on the road on Saturday evening, where the T-Mobile Center is the destination before 26 April.
Kansas City will host a UFC -Vecht evening card with a number of exciting matchups with a fantastic welterweight main event to finish it.
Ian Machado Garry has had a number of hard words for Carlos Prates prior to their five-round confrontation that promises a number of edge of your seats.
In the Co-Main event, Anthony Smith will take his last walk to the cage to close a great career when he accepts the dangerous knockout artist Zhang Mingyang.
A secretly good fight from the night candidate on the main map ran the risk of falling apart after the single weightmiss on 25 April, but the matchup will still continue as planned after Giga Chikadze 147 pound struck his featherweight with David Onama.
Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC
Giga Chikadze says that his weight miss was not his fault, but it is not a big problem
In 10 UFC fights, Giga Chikadze never reached the limit of featherweight until this weekend in Kansas City.
The Georgian needs a bounce-back victory after his one-sided loss for Arnold Allen on UFC 304 last year, but to increase his hand, he has to stop David Onama's three-fighting switch.
In 2022, Chikadze quickly climbed the 145-pound ladder after a point of three consecutive version of the night bonuses with interruption of, among others, Edson Barboza and Cub Swanson.
His stock received an important hit after a beatdown by Calvin Kattar who led to a long period of inactivity for 'Ninja'.
After his weight, the combat evening is wrong, there is now more at stake for Chikadze when he builds up his momentum again to get back into the mix with 145 pounds.
Nevertheless, he told Inside Fighting that he does not believe that his weight miss is a major problem because he was only a small amount above the 146 pound limit.
Chikadze also claimed that at one point a mistake was made because he believed that he was on weight when he checked before he stepped on the official scale.
Regardless of what the reason was, he forfeited 20 percent of his wallet to his opponent with the fight on as planned.
“I thought I did everything, so when I made the weight on my scale, it was as if I was doing so well, I didn't hurt myself and then I was ready and I was loaded with all the electrolytes and I had something like that, you know we don't have it.”
Giga Chikadze thanked Dana White now that he feels healthier than ever
Giga Chikadze took considerable free time to recover some injuries he had previously fought during his time in the UFC.
Despite his weight miss, the Georgian striker is convinced that on April 26 he will finally show what he is really capable of now that he is healthy.
He thanked Dana White in a backstage interview with the UFC to help him step into the octagon in the best possible form.
“Finally it feels great. I have been looking for this moment for my whole life. I have done several operations, but thank you and thank you Dana, because of his superhuman protocol, we really keep that up and it was really useful. Many people helped me a lot and I can't wait to show you what healthy giga can show.”
The 36-year-old currently has the #12 ranking order in the featherweight division, so a victory over David Onama could immediately put him back in the frame for a top 10 matchup in the near future.