Giga Chikadze Claims He's Agreed To Fight Yair Rodriguez, Urges Him To Sign Bout Agreement

Mandatory Credit: Jeff Bottari - Zuffa LLC & Chris Unger - Zuffa LLC

Surging UFC featherweight contender, Giga Chikadze has claimed that the UFC reached out to him in a bid to score a fight between himself and the #3 rated, Yair Rodriguez -- which he agreed to, and has since urged the "p*ssy" Rodriguez to follow suit and sign on to fight.

Chikadze, who most recently featured at UFC Vegas 25 in June, earned the #10 rank at the official 145lbs limit, via a gut-busting liver kick against Cub Swanson in the opening round -- turning in his sixth successive success in the UFC.

Off the back of the win, the Georgian striker was linked to showdowns against fellow recent big-winner, Edson Barboza -- and even called for a real "Mortal Kombat" fight with Rodriguez, however, has yet to be booked for his next Octagon walk.

Awaiting a willing dance partner, Chikadze offered to replace former undisputed featherweight best, Max Holloway on July 17th. in a UFC Fight Night main event against Rodriguez, after the Hawaiian was forced from the pairing due to an undisclosed injury. 

The promotion are expected to attempt to rebook Holloway vs. Rodriguez in the future, however, Chikadze has claimed that the organization offered him a bout agreement to meet with the Chihuahua native, Rodriguez, before urging the top-three challenger to jot pen to paper.

"Max Holloway pulled out from the fight with Yair Rodriguez due to injury," Chikadze posted on his official Instagram. "(The) UFC called me to replace him (Holloway0, and, of course, I agreed. Now we're waiting on Yair (Rodriguez to agree). This buy (sic) didn't fight for 20 or 21 months. Guess what I was doing in this time? I was fighting, fighting, and fighting. I've fought six times, I beat all my opponents. This guy started to play games. It's been a few days. I haven't heard back. Hopefully, he's going to show up July 17th., but I heard he's a little bit of a p*ssy."

Chikadze then went on to reflect on Rodriguez's past failed pairings with promotional-perfect standout, Zabit Magomedsharipov, and remains hopeful that the Mexican will meet with him in July. 

"He didn't show up four times with Zabit (Magomedsharipov), and I heard he did everything to pull out of this fight," Chikadze explained. "I don't think the guy is scared to be in UFC, but hopefully now he's going to be (sic) meet me in front fact-to-face and we're going to talk. I can't wait."

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It has been a prolonged period of certain inactivity for dynamic striker, Rodriguez, who last competed in October of 2019 at UFC Fight Night Boston in a co-headlining rematch against Jeremy Stephens, in which he scored a unanimous decision win over the veteran.

In the time since, the 28-year-old has been booked to meet with the similarly inactive, Magomedsharipov, however, was forced from a UFC Vegas 8 headliner in August due to an ankle injury.

Rodriguez was then slapped with a six-month retroactive USADA suspension in December, dating back to September of that year, after he failed to comply with revealing his whereabouts for drug testing, resulting in multiple violations. Rodriguez was eligible to return to active competition since March of this year.