
After making a remarkable win over Bryce Mitchell at UFC 296 last Saturday, Josh Emmett doesn’t think he still wants to have a match with Giga Chikadze. As the fighter underscored, a match against others from lower rank is just “high, high risk for not a whole lot of reward.”
Chikadze and Emmett were originally scheduled to have the bout last weekend, but the former was pushed to withdraw due to a torn groin injury. With this, Mitchell stepped in as a replacement but failed after experiencing a KO that later resulted in a short convulsion in the cage. Meanwhile, Emmett impressed the crowd. After this, Chikadze made his callout to Emmett, who turned it down.
As the fighter shared in his earlier statement, he is aiming for bigger fights against fellows in the higher ranks. Emmettt hopes to get an opponent who could soon bring him closer to the title shot. As such, fighters at the lower positions are out of the picture for this plan, with the 38-year-old saying facing them is only a risk.
“I’m definitely moving past it (the Chikadze matchup),” Emmett said. “I wanna get back to the title fight. Fighting these guys behind me is just high, high risk for not a whole lot of reward. It does nothing for me. It’s just a risky fight.
“I wanna fight somebody that’s gonna get me back to that title fight. This is gonna be my last run at a title fight. I think I have a long career ahead of me, but realistically, I wanna make a run at that title and I wanna be just a hundred percent all in. We’ve been working on a bunch of things. I’m back to my roots, what got me to the UFC, instead of just being so specialized in different areas… I have a new fire under me.”