After five brutal rounds in the Octagon at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas, Calvin
Kattar and Giga
Chikadze shared a moment of mutual respect after being
transported to a local hospital.
Chikadze posted a photo of the two posing together on social media
with the caption “respect” following their UFC on ESPN 32
headlining bout, which Kattar won via unanimous decision. Neither
featherweight attended Saturday’s post-fight press conference for
precautionary reasons, but it was Chikadze whose face showed the
more visible damage in the aftermath.
Respect @CalvinKattar
pic.twitter.com/T8GNWX4qNA— GIGA CHIKADZE (@giga_chikadze)
January 16, 2022
While Kattar kept his opponent off balance for the majority of the
contest behind punches to the head, standing elbows and the
occasional takedown, Chikadze never completely wilted, and he fired
back against “The Boston Finisher” to the best of his abilities. It
wasn’t enough to extend what was previously a nine-bout
professional winning streak, but both men received praise from UFC
president Dana White – as well as $50,000 apiece for “Fight of the
Night.”
“That was an absolute war,” White said. “The first fight of the
year and a ‘Fight of the Year’ candidate already. That’s the way to
start it. That’s the way to start the year. It was incredible. And
you know what’s funny … it’s almost like everybody forgot about
Calvin
Kattar [after] Max
Holloway. You know what I mean? A lot of people were counting
him out tonight — and he looked unbelievable.”
Kattar, of course, hadn’t competed since a shellacking against
Holloway in the UFC on ABC 1 headliner one year ago. On Saturday,
he re-established himself as a person of interest in the UFC’s
featherweight division.
“That guy’s an absolute dog, man,” White said of Kattar. “Now if
you look at the fights that he’s had in the UFC, but specifically
now Holloway and Giga, he’s a special kind of guy. He’s a f–ing
warrior, man.
“[Kattar] kept constant pressure on him, he stayed in his face, he
kept moving him backwards, and it looked like Giga was out of it
halfway through the second round.”
The 33-year-old Kattar has won three of his last four promotional
appearances, adding Chikadze to a recent victim list that also
includes Dan Ige and
Jeremy
Stephens. Chikadze, who had lobbied for a shot against reigning
145-pound champ Alexander
Volkanovski following Holloway’s withdrawal from their proposed
trilogy, must go back to the drawing board after seeing his lengthy
winning streak snapped.