HYDEN BLOG: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from UFC Fight Night:

Kattar vs. Chikadze

By: Frank Hyden, MMATorch Senior Columnist

After a few weeks of no events UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Chikadze
was last night. Let’s get to the rundown.

UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Chikadze
GOOD- Bill Algeo vs. Joanderson Brito
Brito got a takedown in the first round but Algeo worked his way back
to his feet. They exchange a bit to end the round. Algeo lands a good
right hand to start the second round. Brito stayed on one knee for a
long time during this round, keeping his hand on the mat to avoid
getting kneed in the head. They exchange some heavy strikes and the
round ends. The third round sees them trade more strikes. Algeo’s
output won him the decision and the fight, as they both had a couple
of takedowns and Algeo’s striking was more on point. Brito falls to
12-3-1 while Algeo improves to 15-6. Good win for Algeo.

GOOD- Viacheslav Borshchev stops Dakota Bush
Bush lands some early kicks and gets a takedown. Borshchev gets back
to his feet and hurts Bush but he’s able to take Borshchev down. They
get back up but Borshchev finishes him with a huge body punch not
quite four minutes into the first round. Bush falls to 8-4 while
Borshchev moves to 6-1. Good win for Borshchev.

GOOD- Katlyn Chookagian vs. Jennifer Maia
They traded kicks and counter strikes before Chookagian landed a
takedown about halfway through the first round. The action slowed
after that and the round ended. They continued trading strikes in a
close second round and that continued into the third round. Maia
fought hard but just wasn’t able to land the strikes she wanted.
Chookagian won the decision and improves to 17-4 with three straight
wins while Maia drops to 19-8-1. Good win for Chookagian.

GOOD- Rogerio Bontorin vs. Brandon Royval
Royval landed more strikes and had more submission attempts while
Bontorin had several takedowns. He didn’t do a whole lot with them,
though, and that cost him the fight. Royval won but only by split
decision. If Bontorin had been able to do more he could have won this.
As it is, Bontorin has lost three of his last four fights (against
pretty tough guys, though) and drops to 16-4 with 2 No Contests while
Royval improves to 13-6 and snaps his two-fight losing streak. Good
win for Royval.

GOOD- Jake Collier submits Chase Sherman
Collier came out firing and landing some good strikes. Sherman fought
back but Collier took him down after catching a kick. Collier started
dropping elbows in full mount before switching to Sherman’s back,
where he locked in a rear-naked choke for the submission win halfway
through the first round. Sherman falls to 15-9 and has lost three
fights in a row while Collier improves to 13-6 and has alternated wins
and losses in his last ten fights. Good win for Collier.

GOOD- Calvin Kattar vs. Giga Chikadze
They traded kicks early before Chikadze missed with a head kick and
Kattar slammed him to the mat. Not much happened in the final few
minutes of the first round as Kattar just wore Chikadze down. Chikadze
came out firing in the second round but Kattar fought back as both
guys absorbed lots of strikes. Kattar turned up the heat in the third
round as Chikadze started to fade a bit. Chikadze got his second wind
in that round, though, as he started popping Kattar with shots. The
fourth round saw them trade kicks and elbows and punches to the body
and head. They both kept coming, though, showing great toughness and
grit. Kattar went movie monster in the fifth round as he dismissed the
danger and started stalking Chikadze and absorbing all of his strikes.
They started blasting each other and Chikadze walked through a big
spinning elbow from Kattar. Things got even more nuts from there as
they both just took whatever the other had to dish out. Lots of
nasty-looking elbows landed. Chikadze finally got dropped but survived
until the fight ended. Kattar won the clear decision but the toughness
on display here elevates both guys on the badass scale. Chikadze falls
to 14-3 and has his nine-fight winning streak snapped and Kattar
improves to 23-5 and has won three of his last four fights. Good win
for Kattar.

*************

UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou defends against Ciryl Gane at
UFC 270 on January 22nd. It’s the final fight on Ngannou’s UFC
contract but if he wins there’s a champion’s clause that will keep him
bound to the promotion for one year or three fights. Ngannou wants to
box so he wants that option if he stays with the UFC. I can’t imagine
we see Ngannou box anytime soon unless he loses to Gane but you never
know, I guess. The UFC could grant him that option but I don’t think
they would. As usual, we’ll just have to wait to see how this plays
out. It’s something interesting to keep in mind, though.

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. Thank you very much, have a good day.

Comments and suggestions can be emailed to me at
hydenfrank@gmail.com and you can follow me on Twitter at @hydenfrank.
Thanks for reading and have a good day.

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