UFC Vegas: Kattar vs Chikadze - Jan 15 🇺🇸

[WeeAl]

I'm actually not that ready for the UFC to be back yet! Part of that is probably because I had it in my head that the first card of the year was the Ngannou Vs Gane fight, so this automatically feels like a come down. 

Like yourselves, I think Kattar is being slept on here. If he wasn't coming off that hatchet job at the hands of Max Holloway then I'd have had him picked for this one. As it is I'm kind of 50/50 on it. Beatings like that can't leave you exactly the same as you were. It'll be interesting to see how Kattar looks following it. 

[wandshogun09]

Quick heads up. If you’ve got Sky and set this to record you might have to do it again because it’s been moved to BT Sport 3. Prelims start at 10 on there. 

[wandshogun09]

Surprised I’m the first one talking about this but what a fucking fight to kick off the year!

Almost a year to the day since Kattar got butchered by Max Holloway, he comes back with a performance like this. Insane. We were saying yesterday that we thought Kattar was being overlooked coming in. He was the forgotten man after taking that beating from Holloway then sitting out a whole year. He couldn’t have came back stronger. Must’ve thrown a million elbows. I forgot how much he loved them. Seeing talk of FOTY already, which is funny with it being the first card of the year. It was a hell of a scrap but it was one of those like Holloway vs Kattar or Holloway vs Ortega where it was probably a bit too one sided for me really, to be in that FOTY bracket. But I get it because Chikadze’s toughness and refusal to go away was as much a part of what made it so amazing as Kattar’s performance and redemption story was.

The state of Giga!

Seen a lot of people jump off the bandwagon today but he showed heart and toughness here that nobody knew he had. Obviously a fighter doesn’t wanna become known for their ability to take an arse kicking but he definitely answered that question last night. This result does kind of validate the Zombie getting the shot at Volk when Holloway pulled out as well. There were some saying Chikadze should’ve got the shot but this fight showed there’s more work to be done for him yet. He got outclassed by a Kattar who was on point last night, no shame in that. But he’s also clearly gonna need more seasoning and work on his 5 round conditioning before he’s ready for that championship level. This opens things right back up for Kattar as well. Seeing calls for Kattar vs Ortega now and I’m all for that. Or either against Yair Rodriguez. I’m a broken record at this point when it comes to my hard on for the 145 division but that cluster from Flyweight up to Lightweight really is the bollocks. It’s not the same in every division but from 125 up to 155, it’s got to be the easiest job in the world for Sean Shelby and co matchmaking that lot. Almost any combination is pure dynamite. 

Fatty Collier got it done then. I was dreading a 15 minute plodding snoozer here so it being all done and dusted in 2 minutes was fine by me. The Heavyweights though, Christ almighty. Obviously the top few guys now are great but when you look further down the division it’s the same old stuff we were watching years ago. Watching these two last night and seeing how sloppy they looked on the feet and then how utterly clueless Sherman looked when it hit the ground with his non-existent defence, it’s like there’s been zero evolution in the division outside a handful of guys at the very top of the rankings. Seriously, this fight could’ve happened on a card in 2010, 2002, 1996 and looked the same 😂 

Really enjoyed Royval vs Bontorin but it wasn’t without controversy. It was a close fight and I’ve seen a lot of cries of robbery but, whether it’s me being such a Royval fan making me biased or what, I didn’t think the decision was bad. It was one of those fights that basically came down to control vs aggression. Bontorin got a lot of dominant positions over the course of the fight but it was Royval who was being more active and looking to cause damage from any position, go for subs etc. Then there was this…

What do you lot make of that? Was it a tap? Was Bontorin just trying to grab and adjust his position and it looked like a tap? The old ‘Brazilian tap’. To me it looked like he tapped but I’m not sure it was with the intention of submitting or just an instinctive movement as he was trying to work his way out of it. Then again, one tap was enough for Werdum to end Fedor’s decade long undefeated streak so fuck Bontorin. Regardless, good fight and I’m happy that Royval got the win. 

Chookagian fight bored me shitless but I expected nothing less. She’s not a bad fighter. She’s effective at what she does. It’s just not enjoyable to watch at all. When she’s striking it’s dull tippy tappy shite that resembles a light sparring session. When she grapples there doesn’t really seem to be any urgency to finish or even do significant damage most of the time. Saw something that she’s now got the record for being the first UFC fighter to win 10 fights without one finish. Says it all. I’ll always say finishes aren’t the be all, end all. I remember when Tyson Griffin started getting a rep as a decision merchant years ago but the difference there was he was having banger after banger. Chookagian’s UFC fights, I’ve probably seen all of them and couldn’t tell you anything about any of them other than the times she got finished by Valentina Shevchenko and Jessica Andrade. Sounds harsh but I’ll most likely just skip her fights going forward unless she’s in with a favourite of mine, and I never just basically ‘boycott’ a specific fighter. Like I say, decent fighter in that she’s mostly effective, but she’s bloody rancid to watch. 

Outside the main event though, Viacheslav Borshchev stole the show as I’d hoped he would. About as perfect a UFC debut as he could’ve wished for. Got taken down and against higher level opposition I have some doubts but it’s early days yet and he had answers for it here. When they were on the feet he made the most of his opportunities and this was a beauty. 

Love the bloke already! Always had a soft spot for a body puncher and you can just tell he’s gonna be one of those guys who’s fun to watch pretty much whoever they throw him in with. Doesn’t hurt that he’s likeable as fuck either. Just seems like an overgrown kid having the time of his life in there. As if the Lightweight division needed anything else, Slava Claus has arrived. Love to see him give Paddy Pimblett a slap somewhere down the road. What a pure babyface vs heel clash that would be. Fuck it, if Slav’s good to go, I’d whack him and Pimblett on the London card in March. Why not? 

Didn’t really think much of the prelims. Brian Kelleher was great to watch as usual and it was nice to see Court McGee get another win but I don’t have much to say about the prelims beyond that.

Not the best card but the fights I expected to deliver did and even some of the ones I thought were gonna stink like Collier vs Sherman at least had the good grace to be mercifully short. The card ended with a banger and that’s the thing people will remember. To sum the whole thing up though, Bisping hit the nail on the head for me…

It’s nice to have fights back. Roll on 270 next week. 

[Cousin Jim Bob]

Regarding the lack of heavyweight evolution. I just cant see that changing much. We will always have a talented few but in most of the world the big athletic kids will be spotted at a young age and pushed into basketball, American Football, Rugby etc. Far better paying sports where sure you can get serious injurys but you don't wake up after a game with a face like Giga did. Francis Ngannou is like one of those rare talented big dudes who fell through the cracks and somehow ended up in MMA.

[wandshogun09]

True. And even Ngannou was an accident, he wanted to box originally but the opportunity to do MMA came first. It’s a shallow pool, no doubt. We’re always gonna have to make do with 5-6 good fighters in the division at best, then a load of Collier types. You still get the odd fun brawl out of them as well in fairness, like the Tafa vs Felipe slobberknocker from last year. It’s just the way it’s gonna be. We really were spoiled for a bit with that period where we had Lesnar, prime Cain, prime JDS, Carwin, Werdum, Hunt, Barnett, a faded but still having his moments Fedor, Cro Cop, Nogueira etc still around at the same time. From 2003-2010, across a few different promotions there were more quality Heavyweights at one time than there’s ever been, or probably likely to be again. 

[Tamura]

Bisping was embarassing on commentary during the Kelleher/Croom fight. Insisting a round was 10-8 and that anyone on Twitter who disagreed didn't understand how fights are scored. Strange that all three judges scored it a 10-9 round then isn't it?

[Egg Shen]

Bisping had a shocker. Who the hell is Kelvin Kattar?

 

[Egg Shen]

for @wandshogun09

harsh?

[Carbomb]

As long as Sam Alvey has a contract, that's a bullshit move. I've said it before: of course it's important to have entertaining fighters, but UFC's USP is that they're the promotion at the pinnacle of the sport, with the best MMA fighters in the world. If you start releasing fighters because they're not entertaining, even if they're winning, it makes your claims to being the elite ring quite hollow.

Obviously, just releasing Chookagian won't do that by itself, but if they continue along that vein, it could erode their prestige in the long run.

[Kfogg1991]

I'll be honest that main event fucking saved this fight night card in the biggest way. I remember being so disappointed and bummed out because even though there weren't many "BAD" fights, it was one of those shows where after 4 weeks without anything you wanted some big finishes and excitement and that really didn't happen. 

But fuck me that main event was special 2 lads that refused to back down and kattar went in there with a big chip on his shoulder and did what Holloway dished out to him 12 months before. 

Unfortunately shows like this happen. But the judges fucking earned their money on Sunday but it's all go for the first PPV of 2022

[Egg Shen]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

As long as Sam Alvey has a contract, that's a bullshit move. I've said it before: of course it's important to have entertaining fighters, but UFC's USP is that they're the promotion at the pinnacle of the sport, with the best MMA fighters in the world. If you start releasing fighters because they're not entertaining, even if they're winning, it makes your claims to being the elite ring quite hollow.

Obviously, just releasing Chookagian won't do that by itself, but if they continue along that vein, it could erode their prestige in the long run.

i don't think it does the UFC any harm despite it being harsh on a fighter. Chookagian was allowed to fight out her contract and they chose not to renew, i don't really have issue with it. If a fighter doesn't really present the promotion with any upside why keep them?

Chookagian will be fine, Bellator love to pick up fighters like her. She'll likely go there and end up in a title fight within 1-2 fights.

[Carbomb]

35 minutes ago, Egg Shen said:

i don't think it does the UFC any harm despite it being harsh on a fighter. Chookagian was allowed to fight out her contract and they chose not to renew, i don't really have issue with it. If a fighter doesn't really present the promotion with any upside why keep them?

Who says she doesn't present any upside, though? Fighters that keep winning give the UFC the legitimacy to claim that they promote the best fighters in the world. With Chookagian, it's not too difficult a choice because she's lost before - if she was an undefeated but boring prospect, and they still released her, that would definitely show the UFC's claims to be bollocks. But what does it say to fighters with boring styles if someone on a winning streak is released following a win? "Don't bother putting in all that hard graft in camps, training to be the best, because if you don't stand and bang, you won't get to earn a living with us."

It's also ducking responsibility on the UFC's part. The rules as they stand allow for fighters with boring styles to win fights. If a fighter keeps winning with a boring style in a prize-fighting sport, it's not on them to change - that's how they keep earning money. It's on more entertaining fighters to beat them - if that doesn't happen and the UFC don't like that, they should change the fucking rules.

[Egg Shen]

6 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

It's on more entertaining fighters to beat them - if that doesn't happen and the UFC don't like that, they should change the fucking rules.

Chookagian signed a contract for so many fights, she fought it out and the UFC chose not to renew. You don't automatically get a new contract if you win. It isn't like Chookagian didn't get opportunities either despite being dull to watch, she fought for a UFC title.

 

 

[Carbomb]

Just now, Egg Shen said:

Chookagian signed a contract for so many fights, she fought it out and the UFC chose not to renew. You don't automatically get a new contract if you win. It isn't like Chookagian didn't get opportunities either despite being dull to watch, she fought for a UFC title.

We're talking about two different things. Absolutely, the UFC are well within their rights to do as they wish, it's all legal and above board. I'm not arguing that, much as I would like it to be different. I'm saying, as someone watching MMA, that I think it's an utterly bollocks move to choose not to renew the contract of a fighter on a winning streak just because she's got a boring style. As far as I'm concerned, every time they do that, it contributes a little bit more to rendering the UFC's claims to being the promotion that hosts the best fighters in the world as untrue. I also believe that, if it's not a trend they reverse, that will become a bit more than just my opinion - but I also accept that I could be wrong in that judgement.

[Egg Shen]

The UFC ideally wants to promote marketable fighters who draw money and make for exciting fights for TV. I get what you are saying Carbomb, but it again harks back to some people wanting it to be run like a standard structured sports league, MMA and Boxing doesn't work like that.

Chookagian had an impressive but notably dull 14 fight stretch in the UFC, she's getting older, she's stinking up cards, knocking off potential victims for Valentina to fight and theres zero interest in seeing her fight Shevchenko again herself, what is the upside to keeping her around? Let her go, she'll sign with Bellator, get a fresh lick of paint, probably get a better contract and likely a title fight.