Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze face off on Saturday in a featherweight showdown in the main event of UFC Vegas 46 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Kattar is currently ranked 5th in division while Chikadze is ranked 8th.
Calvin Kattar comes into this game with a 22-5 record overall but he is coming off a loss in this last fight. Kattar’s last fight came against Max Holloway in January and it was a really ugly fight. Kattar was outstruck 445-133 and that led to the unanimous decision loss. The last win came on July 15th of 2020 against Danny Ige. In that fight he had 105 significant strikes and that was enough to come away with the unanimous decision victory. Kattar is averaging 5.07 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 8.16 significant strikes per minute. The number of strikes absorbed has risen a lot after his last fight against Holloway. Kattar is averaging 0.37 takedowns every 15 minutes and he is successful on 30 percent of his attempts. He also stops 89 percent of his opponents takedown attempts. If he wants a chance to pull this upset he is going to need to take a lot less damage.
On the other side of this matchup is Giga Chikadze who sits with a 14-2 record overall and he has won seven fights in a row. The last fight came against Edson Barboza in August of 2021 and it was a dominant performance. He had two knockdowns in that fight and early in the third round he finished it with a knockout. Each of the last three fights has been finished by knockout, and two of those were by kicks. Chikadze is averaging 3.76 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 2.69 significant strikes per minute. He is averaging 0.33 takedowns every 15 minutes and he is successful on 33 percent of his takedown attempts.
Kattar took a lot of damage in the last fight, and that isn't good news going against a good fighter like Chikadze. Look for Chikadaze to inflict a lot of damage early in this fight, and Kattar is going to have no answer. Back Chikadze to win this fight by knockout.
AUTHOR: Shane Mickle
