“Yeah, you know, I’m super proud of him [Oliveira],” Swanson told SCMP MMA. “He came out with a bang, with a bunch of submissions, and he was a hot prospect, and then at ’45 [145 pounds] I think the cut was too much for him.

“He wasn’t doing so good, he was kind of hot and cold, and then at ’55 out of nowhere he’s just been killing it. And yeah, it’s been kind of a trip because I got wins over Poirier and Oliveira and they’re at the top of the division at ’55.

“It’s crossed my mind, ‘man, maybe I should be going up to ’55’. But yeah, I’m rooting for both those guys and I think both of them are great, so I hope they do well.”

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After missing weight for a third time before his November 2016 submission defeat by Ricardo Lamas, Oliveira was asked by the UFC to move up to 155 pounds. Paul Felder (17-6) has since been the only man to beat him in 10 bouts, with the 31-year-old Oliveira riding an eight-fight win streak – seven of them finishes.

Poirier has lost just twice – to Michael Johnson (20-17) and Khabib Nurmagomedov (29-0) – since moving back to lightweight following a first-round KO by McGregor in 2014, and claimed the interim lightweight title in 2019.

But after rising up to No 5 in the featherweight rankings, Swanson’s trajectory went the other way to Oliveira and Poirier, going on an 0-4 streak – finally snapped in 2019 – which saw him question himself.

“It sucked to have a little bit of a losing streak – that was the hardest time for my career,” Swanson said. “But I had a lot going on. I changed camps and I was trying new things.

“Just doubt, questioning if you were doing things right, which is what you should be doing. But it plays a lot of tricks on you, knowing am I headed in the right direction, should I be doing something differently. It was difficult.

“You can end up taking it out sometimes on people around you. When people and fans say don’t take things personally, man this is our life, it’s hard not to. When you’re winning people are nice to you, they treat you good. When you’re losing they treat you differently.

“And that’s just inevitable, so try not to dwell on it too much, try to stay positive, keep trying to be better and just trust the process.

“I feel like I just got back to really doing things that made me great, and I’ve been able to change my mentality, kinda grow up as a fighter. Being a father, so much has changed. To be able to stay in this game so long you have to be willing to evolve and sometimes you end up taking a step or two backwards.

“You can’t get too down about it, you just gotta keep moving forward. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel that those decisions were the right move.”

Swanson is now riding a two-fight win streak going into Saturday night, with a dominant decision over Kron Gracie and a second-round knockout of Daniel Pineda last December. But he knows Georgia’s Chikadze is a dangerous threat.

“I think he’s doing really well,” Swanson said. “I’ve known him since before he had a pro MMA fight, my manager was talking about wanting to manage him and was talking to me about him and wanting me to spar with him. We’ve never really worked together, we were just friendly.

“I watched his last fights, he’s doing a great job. I think he still has some holes in his game for being at this high level, but he’s definitely dangerous. He’s a decorated striker. I think me and him make for an exciting fight.

“I love the match-up. I think my creativity can give him problems. I know I need to be aware of his best weapons. I’m sure he’s gonna try to bring some new stuff to the table but I will try to as well. It’s about who executes better.”