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Giga Chikadze will receive the 2022 Forrest Griffin Community Award for his efforts to help cancer patients.
Chikadze was born in Georgia, which used to be a part of the Soviet Union. His father was an athlete for the Soviet Union but his mother wanted him to study. For that reason, Chikadze earned a bachelor's degree.
However, by the time he was 17, his mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2012. While she initially managed to fight the disease, it recurred and she eventually passed away, leaving a big hole in the current UFC fighter's life.
"I was 17 when I found out my mom has breast cancer. For the first few years she was doing good. She got a surgery, she got away from cncer. I was still fighting, coming back to Georgia, bringing her present, December of 2012 it came back. And, beginning of March she passed away."
After the incident, he lost faith in everything and his life started to fall apart. However, Chikadze decided to form a community called Knockout Cancer, along with his sister. Their goal was to help anybody who is suffering from the critical disease. The Georgian featherweight believes it's possible to survive with strong self-belief:
"Anyone that is dealing with cancer right now, I can tell them there's always hope. If you believe it, then I believe they can knock this cancer out."
He will get the recognition he deserves for his tremendous work as he receives the 2022 Forrest Griffin Community award.
What's next for Giga Chikadze in the UFC?
'Ninja' suffered a battering loss to Calvin Kattar in his last UFC fight in January. That put an end to his unblemished record in the organization. His promotional record currently stands at 7-1 and overall record at 14-3.
The 33-year-old is ranked No.8 in the 145 lbs division at the moment. Despite his loss, the Georgian remains one of the finest strikers on the entire UFC roster. His legitimate knockout prowess is due to his immense kickboxing experience.
Giga Chikadze has been aiming for a fight against 'The Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung for a while. Jung is coming off a loss against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 273. It will be interesting to see if the UFC makes that clash happen.
