Tama Tonga Reacts to Claims That Ilja Dragunov’s Chops Weren’t Effective on WWE SmackDown

Tama Tonga picked up yet another major victory on this week’s episode of WWE SmackDown, as he defeated former United States Champion Ilja Dragunov in singles competition.

Tonga capitalized on interference from The MFTs to take down The Mad Dragon with his trademark Cutthroat Elbow.

Apart from his victory, one of the major talking points from the match on social media was Ilja’s seemingly ineffective chops to Tama Tonga.

Earlier today, Tonga shrugged off the claims as he shared a picture of his bruised chest on social media and claimed that nobody has ever chopped him in that fashion apart from his father.

“Looks effective to me. Nobody’s chopped me up like that since my pops. Touché, Dragunov,” he wrote.

Check out Tama Tonga’s post below:

Looks effective to me.
Nobody’s chopped me up like that since my pops.
Touché Dragunov https://t.co/Ski8kHSXoG pic.twitter.com/UOXEHkcMQ2

— Tama Tonga (@TamaTonga01) February 21, 2026

After the match, Ilja Dragunov jumped The MFTs but was immediately taken down again by Solo and Co. Apollo Crews and Matt Cardona came out to rescue him, but they were also taken down.

Tama is currently on a roll, having pinned Shinsuke Nakamura, US Champion Carmelo Hayes (in a 10-man tag team match), and now Ilja Dragunov over the past few weeks on SmackDown.

It will be interesting to see if WWE continues to push Tama as a singles performer in the coming weeks.