UFC fans couldn’t have hoped for a better start to the new year, as Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze delivered an absolute war in the first main event of the year. Both the fighters unleashed their striking onto each other in the five-rounder, which earned ‘Ninja’ and ‘The Boston Finisher’ the first Fight of The Night award of 2022.

However, Kattar was able to outplay ‘Ninja’ as he clinched a victory over Chikadze via a unanimous decision.

Meanwhile, former featherweight champion Max Holloway chimed in to congratulate Kattar on his fascinating win. He Tweeted, “Congrats @CalvinKattar what a performance #TheCartel”

Notably, ‘Blessed’ defeated Kattar prior to his fight with Chikadze, just a year ago. Coincidentally, the fight also played out similarly as today, where Holloway had the judges on his side. At present, an injury has sidelined Holloway from the octagon, as ‘The Korean Zombie’ has replaced him for a fight against Alexander Volkanovski.

Kattar also reflected on the gesture, as he wished for a speedy recovery for Holloway. Kattar replied, “Speedy recovery champ 🤝🙏🏼 #blessed”

After his fight, Kattar himself met Giga Chikadze, and both featherweights had nothing but respect for each other. Later, the duo posed together and clicked a photo as ‘Ninja’ took his loss sportingly and showered respect over his opponent. ‘Ninja’ shared the photo on his social media with the caption, “Respect @CalvinKattar.”

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Now, Kattar is 23-5 in his career and will look to take on higher-ranked opponents in his division. Whereas the Georgian striker has just registered his first defeat in the promotion and will look to come back to winning ways later this year.

Fight analysis- Calvin Kattar versus Giga Chikadze

Although ‘The Boston Finisher’ walked into the octagon as a huge underdog, he was quick to shut his haters. The fight between Giga Chikadze and Calvin Kattar played out exactly as fans had anticipated as both the fighters showcased their striking abilities.

The opener started with ‘Ninja’ unloading his kicks and punches. However, a miss and a slip gave Kattar his first takedown opportunity that he capitalized on beautifully and took the fight to the mat where he dominated. After that, in the second and third round, Kattar unloaded his elbow onto ‘Ninja’, which gave the #8 featherweight nasty cuts on his face.

Finally, as ‘Ninja’ looked visibly tired and gassed out, Kattar hit him with sharp strikes and with another takedown opportunity concluded the fight with brutal ground and pound maneuvers.

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