Calvin Kattar shuts Giga Chikadze out at UFC Vegas 46
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, January 15, 2022 for the first time in a month for UFC Vegas 46, headlined by top featherweight contenders Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze.
Kattar, who comes in ranked at No. 5, hasn’t fought since his defeat to Max Holloway at the beginning of last year in January, while Chikadze, who comes in ranked at No. 8, went 2-0 last year, securing knockout victories over Cub Swanson and Edson Barboza.
Continue reading to see how this epic featherweight main event went down:
Official Result: Calvin Kattar def. Giga Chikadze via unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-44)
THAT’s HOW YOU MAKE A STATEMENT 💥
[ @CalvinKattar | #UFCVegas46 ] pic.twitter.com/yJciqlt9Dy
— UFC (@ufc) January 16, 2022
Chikadze opens up with a number of nasty calf kicks, followed by some front kicks up the middle, intended for both Kattar’s body and chin.
His hands are looking sharp too, especially his cross. He then begins to land his round kicks to the body, and tries to go upstairs with it as well. It’s looking like Kattar may be in for a tough night early on.
Just as we were thinking that however, Chikadze gets careless and loses his balance momentarily whilst throwing a head kick, which Kattar capitalizes on immediately by slamming Chikadze back to the mat.
Kattar controls the remainder of the round on top, and even comes close to securing an arm-triangle choke.
Kattar begins to pour on the pressure in the second round, once Chikadze is weary of the takedown, and unloads with his hands. Suddenly it appears Chikadze is starting to fade, thanks to the pressure of Kattar.
This has turned into a real war!
Though Chikadze is fading quite badly, he’s still incredibly dangerous. He does abandon his kicks though, as he’s constantly moving backward, also the reason he’s fatiguing. Kattar is really looking great tonight, landing a number of hard punches and elbows to the wounded Chikadze.
Many of us were thinking coming in that this was a bad match up for Kattar, given he’s more of a pure boxer going up against a world champion kickboxer, but he’s really pulled out all the stops. It appears one year off has been great for him.
As for Chikadze, he’ll bounce back. Remember, he’s still 7-1 in the UFC, after tonight.
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