And the streak of fight of the nights to start off the new UFC year continues with the performance of a lifetime by Calvin Kattar. The New England Cartel bounces back from the L of *1 #12 Rob Font losing to #11 Jose Aldo with a stellar performance. Even though I had Giga winning I stated more than a couple of times that there was oversight of Calvin from the get go, this should’ve been a pick’em fight with Calvin as the favorite but Giga was on a streak. A nine fight win streak no less. But also that’s part of the problem. This fight was more a tale of overcoming adversity and loss to learn from it. Calvin Kattar may not be best boxer in the UFC but his MMA game was on point with his vicious elbows and that critical initiative and hustle to jump on Giga Chickadze at around the two minute mark of the first round.
But those two minutes were exactly why we thought that Giga would win. Those leg kicks to the body were the precision and power that we thought it would be. But we also learned how tough Calvin Kattar was after the Max Holloway fight, still not knocked down in the UFC btw.
Like I stated on our podcast (link down below homies) earlier this week, their was a path to victory. Their is for every fight. Giga with his leg kicks, while powerful, take a lot of energy to do. You just have to eat your shit whole for a second while you crowd the kicker and pretty much try to Homer Simpson the fight out of your opponents hands. Khabib did it to Edson Barboza and also to Justin Gaethje. Keep it mind the strikes he had to absorb in doing so.
Dangerous game to play but also this isn’t croquet, you know what I am sayin’? Calvin Kattar, quietly, bet on himself. Bet on his chin to get past the danger point and rely on his has tank which I think is severely underrated. That boy has them Mexican lungs straight up. Also quick point that three of Giga’s Losses are by decision.
The game plan was executed to perfection. Again crowd the kicker. Use the smaller cage to your advantage. Make this guy jog for twenty five minutes backwards. You will be eating bombs the whole time but you are “too tough for your own good” anyway right?
But the amazing chin wasn’t the only factor. Those elbows were a thing of beauty. much like the commentators Brendan Fitzgerald, Michael Bisping and (ugh) Dominick Cruz nailed it on the head saying that Calvin Kattar was doing what Max Holloway did to him. They were right. Calvin adapted. Issa a beautiful thing.
As far as Giga is concerned, its a loss, it happens. But don’t get it twisted. You have room to humble yourself and try again and learn from your mistakes. Just like Calvin did. This has the ability to be a valuable learning experience for Chikadze. Hopefully it’s that. And hey he put the spotlight on himself and he was the talk fo the town but you can do that in a better way. Making your opponent look good makes your defeat of them look even better. But looking past them does something even worse. Takes your one opportunity and makes it about something else. You could’ve been promoting this fight but instead you get to eat humble pie and also all those stitches which of this time the amount is not known. Giga was game but he just ended up on the wrong side of the fight of the night winner.
As far as what I would like to see what happens next…
#6 Calvin Kattar vs #7 Yair Rodriguez
or
#5 Brian Ortega Vs #6 Calvin Kattar
Yeah it sucks that Calvin is going to face another tough test but you are in the elite and you just secured your spot so you should fight in the top ten and both of those fights are guaranteed fire works. Hopefully all of them are not trying to fight anytime soon but maybe sometime during International fight week? Maybe Mexico? That would be fucking dope.
Giga Chikadze vs Sodiq Yussef
Sodiq is coming off a decision loss to #10 Arnold Allen and Giga just kinda got fucked up for 23 minutes straight so yeah makes sense, both of the fighters outside of the top 15 in our Official No Name MMA Show Rankings, top five updated on Monday per our instagram Page.
But yeah, that is now the eighth main event in a row to start of the year to either feature a performance of the night or performance of the night.
Other moves in the rankings include #3 Katlyn Chookagian coming out on top over #4 Jennifer Maia by unanimous decision. Chookagian is going into free agency with the UFC with maybe not so proud honor of being the first UFC fighter to get to 10 wins by decision. Speaking of being a decision machine 14 of her 17 wins are by decision. and also we have #7 Brandon Royval going down a spot to #6 Kai Kara France by winning by split decision over #8 Rogerio Bontorin stays where he is. For the record my wife and I had the first two rounds for Bontorin. But we are not Judges.
Other notables were Jake Collier who won by sub which I had as a favorite going into this one. He was on a three fight losing streak going in, but all those losses where to fighters that have a .750 winning rate.
Viacheslav Borshchev ended up knocking out Dakota Bush in the first round, suffered through some adversity but the did what he does best. He is now 6-1. 5 KO’s. Another shark added to the tank that is lightweight.
But yeah the UFC is back and so are we, if you made it to the end of this and disagree with the rankings we would love to know at one of the links down below.
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As always,
invest in your mental health
and fuck you Jon Jones
Official Rankings per the No Name MMA Showq