UFC Vegas 46 featured a featherweight fight between Calvin Kattar and one of the rising stars in the division, Giga Chikadze. Going into the fight, Chikadze was the favorite to win the fight, and rightfully so.
Chikadze was coming off an impressive TKO win over Edson Barboza and he was unbeaten in UFC coming into UFC Vegas 46. Moreover, Kattar was coming off a devastating loss to Max Holloway in his last fight. And he was making his comeback after a long layoff.
However, the outcome of the fight did surprise a lot of fans as Kattar won the fight via unanimous decision(50-45,50-45,50-45). This was the first fight in UFC where Giga Chikadze faced a lot of adversities and almost got finished on multiple occasions.
Calvin Kattar’s forward pressure and high output put Chikadze in a world of trouble. It also eliminated the biggest threat Chikadze brings to the table, which is high leg kicks. Chikadze barely threw any leg kicks in the five rounds against Kattar and it cost him the fight.
Giga Chikadze was doing some damager every time he was throwing his kicks. But, he was constantly moving backward due to the pressure of Calvin Kattar and could not throw a lot of them.
Besides that, the grappling exchanges also made a huge impact on the fight. Calvin Kattar got a huge takedown in the first round after one of Chikadze’s leg kicks. And that certainly played a huge role in the later rounds as well.
Kattar tried to take Chikadze down on multiple occasions during the fight even though he did not succeed in most of his attempts. But, that makes Chikadze think twice before going for his leg kicks.
Calvin Kattar’s boxing put Giga Chikadze in a lot of trouble
Calvin Kattar impressed the fans with his boxing skills and durability once again. Kattar landed multiple spinning elbows against Chikadze throughout the five rounds. Kattar’s high output in the five rounds was too much to deal with for Chikadze, who was on his way to a title shot coming into UFC Vegas 47.
Kattar landed 49 significant strikes in the second round, 55 in the third, 48 in the fourth, and 72 in the fifth round.
Despite the loss, there are some positives for Chikadze out of his five-round war against Kattar. He finally got to showcase his cardio in a high pace and high-volume fight. Even in the fifth round, Chikadze was landing massive leg kicks and going for the finish.
Giga Chikadze has shown improved takedown defense throughout his UFC career and he did stop a lot of takedown attempts from Calvin Kattar.
Now the loss to Kattar has put a halt to the hype behind Giga Chikadze. But, he can still get back into a title shot conversation with a couple of wins.
