Featherweight Fireworks

The UFC is starting the new year with a bang in this weekend’s main event, Calvin Kattar VS. Giga Chikadze. Kattar is ranked #5, while Chikadze is ranked #8 in the featherweight division. Whoever takes the win is going to be closer to a title shot. Chikadze is coming off a spectacular win against Edson Barboza, while Kattar is coming off a savage beat down against Max Holloway. This fight will determine a lot for both fighters and the featherweight division. In Kattars last fight, he took severe damage that can change a fighter’s career, so this fight will answer a lot of questions on where he stands in the division. Is Kattar going to come back stronger or just a shell of what he once was? There’s no question on how tough Kattar is but will he be able to tough his way to a victory this Saturday. If he does lose this fight, it’ll be back-to-back losses, and his trajectory will surely go down. With a win against Chikadze, it’ll leave Kattar at the top of the division and be big for him to destroy the new hype train. For Chikadze, this is a big step in competition; with a win over Kattar, he’ll be in the top 5. I believe there is more pressure on Chikadze because if he doesn’t put on a better performance than Max Holloway did against Kattar, people will not think he’s the real deal. I think he needs a finish to get closer to a title shot. If Chikadze does not look flawless in the fight, people will question if he deserves to be at the top and fight a champion.

With that being said, these fighters match up perfectly for violence. Chikadze is a long-range striker that will pick you apart from the outside until you crumble, while Kattar does most of his striking in a close range while forcing his opponents against the cage and cutting off their long range attacks. Kattar uses his toughness to force his opponents back against the cage and look for big bombs, and he has fantastic boxing so he can sit in the pocket and out tough his opponents. While Chikadze stays long and uses his kicks to keep range and do damage, if Chikadze can keep his range and use his kickboxing effectively, he will surely win. Both fighters love going to the body, so I imagine that’s going to be a big part of their game plan. I believe whoever has better cardio is going to win. Kattar has been in two main events that went all five rounds, and in his last fight, even though he took one of the worst beatings, he still stood ten toes down all five rounds that are only due to great cardio and toughness. Chikadze, on the other hand, has never gone five rounds in the UFC, so it’ll be exciting how he handles himself in the later rounds. This fight has the possibility of shaking up the division and is a stepping stone for both fighters’ careers. The pressure and stakes are high on this fight, and I’m excited to see how it goes down