Matches to Make After UFC on ESPN 32
Ben DuffyJan 16, 2022
After absorbing a record-breaking beating in his last fight, followed by a full year away, there were plenty of questions hovering over Calvin Kattar on Saturday night, and he answered them in resounding fashion.
In the main event of UFC on ESPN 32: Kattar vs. Chikadze at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, “The Boston Finisher” smashed Giga Chikadze for five full rounds that were just as one-sided — if not quite as statistically ridiculous — as the defeat Kattar himself suffered at the hands of Max Holloway last January. In so doing, Kattar blunted the trajectory of perhaps the fastest-rising fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as Chikadze had been on a seven-fight win streak in the Octagon, and might well have parlayed a win over Kattar into a featherweight title shot.
Even more impressive than the simple fact of the win is the manner in which Kattar accomplished it. While he employed his wrestling in the first round to rack up dominant positions, submission attempts and nearly three minutes of top control, for the remainder of the fight, Kattar took it to the former Glory Kickboxing champ on the feet, and dominated there as well. Kattar’s relentless forward pressure, constant stance switches, clever short elbow strikes and above all, his accurate jab, combined to make a bloody mess of Chikadze’s face while denying him the space and time to get his vaunted kicking game going.
In the wake of “UFC Vegas 46,” here are some matches that ought to be made for the triumphant Kattar and the rest of the main card winners:
Given the relatively recent loss to Holloway, Kattar is further from the title picture than Chikadze would have been had the roles been reversed, but he did show fans as well as the UFC’s matchmakers that he is still very much a factor. What he needs is a matchup with a featherweight of similar ranking and momentum whom he hasn’t faced yet. While there are several fighters who fit that description, including Chan Sung Jung, who is now set to replace Holloway in a short-notice title shot in April, Emmett won just last month at UFC 269 and should be ready to fight around the same time that Kattar is. The Team Alpha Male product is on a four-fight win streak, yet flying slightly under the radar due to the injuries that have kept him on the shelf for long stretches. At 36, if he’s going to make a title run in earnest, he needs a signature win just as badly as Kattar.
When Collier came back to the Octagon last summer after nearly three years away from the sport, he barely looked like the same person. Formerly a light heavyweight — and before that, an absolutely ripped middleweight — he had put on what appeared to be 50 pounds of fat, and now pushed the heavyweight limit. The jokes came quickly and easily, especially when he got splattered in 45 seconds by Tom Aspinall. However, Collier has gone 2-1 since then, with the sole loss coming in a narrow split decision against Carlos Felipe. In Saturday’s co-main event, “The Prototype” absolutely ran through Chase Sherman, hurting him on the feet, hauling him to the canvas and choking him out in just under half a round. In his postfight interview, Collier was offered Justin Tafa, to which he replied that it would be fine, assuming Tafa could make weight this time. Zingers aside, that matchup would indeed be suitable, but Barnett would be even better: a scrap between two rotund, yet nimble big men, and two of the more surprising success stories at heavyweight right now.
You can make a pretty good argument that “Raw Dawg” is one of the five best flyweights in the UFC right now. His 3-2 mark in the promotion is deceptive; his wins all range from good to elite — finishing Kai Kara France is becoming a serious feather in the cap — and his losses came against now-champ Brandon Moreno and his most recent challenger, Alexandre Pantoja. Due to timing, however, Royval’s next step will probably need to be a lateral one, especially if Moreno retains his title in his trilogy fight with Deiveson Figueiredo next week. Perez and Schnell fight at UFC 271 next month. Whoever emerges victorious should face Royval, with the winner right on the door of a title shot, though it's worth noting that Perez's recent loss to Figueiredo should have him watching next week's title fight with a similar, but opposite rooting interest to Royval's.
Chookagian is, to put it bluntly, a huge problem for the UFC flyweight division. A nightmare. She’s the clear No. 3 woman in the group after Valentina Shevchenko and Jessica Andrade, but her losses to those two were so brutal and one-sided that it will be a long time, if ever, before we need to see either rematch. She’s simply too good for just about anyone else to handle, and she’s one of the busiest fighters in the division, meaning she will continue knocking off other contenders and prospects at an alarming rate unless otherwise occupied. That conundrum, combined with her not generally being very exciting to watch — she set a UFC record Saturday by making it to 10 wins without a single finish — makes “Blonde Fighter,” as I say, a problem. Hence her matchup on Saturday, a rematch of a tepid but uncontroversial win over Jennifer Maia that took place barely two years ago, and with no particular reason to think it would go any differently the second time. The only rationale behind that rematch is that Maia has already lost to Shevchenko as well; it was a keep-busy fight that didn’t move either woman appreciably closer to another title shot, but at least didn't send any fresh faces to the back of the line.
OK, fine. Chookagian vs. Taila Santos.
One left-field choice to throw out for Chookagian's next opponent would be Bellator MMA flyweight champion Velasquez, or at least one of her top contenders such as former champ Ilima-Lei Macfarlane. The move might actually benefit both promotions, and would it be any more surprising than Demetrious Johnson or Corey Anderson being let go? However, as a naïve idealist, I’m not going to be the one calling for what would amount to firing a woman on a three-fight win streak. Given her disinclination to move up to bantamweight, Chookagian’s next opponent needs to be ranked highly enough to be able use her as a springboard into the title picture; otherwise there’s no reward for the promotion’s risk. That rules out the way-too-green prospects like Erin Blanchfield or Casey O'Neill. Santos, who blasted Joanne Wood in November to notch her fourth straight win since dropping her UFC debut and looks very much like the real deal, is the call.
On a night that three highly touted debuting prospects entered the Octagon as betting favorites over veterans, Borshchev was the only one to emerge unscathed. Better yet, “Slava Claus” delivered himself a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus by paralyzing Dakota Bush with one of the nastiest body shots you’re likely to see all year. Given that his appearance on the Contender Series last fall ended with a one-shot knockout as well, there’s an obvious temptation to see what the man can do next. However, after only two and a half years and seven fights as a professional mixed martial artist, he’s almost certainly not ready for even a Top 25 opponent — yes, Khamzat Chimaev is the exception that proves the rule. “Gritz” is no stranger to testing UFC blue-chippers, as he fell short against Claudio Puelles last month at UFC on ESPN 31.
“Senor Perfecto” pulled off a gutsy win over fellow Dana White's Contender Series alum Joanderson Brito on Saturday, getting slammed around for much of a rough first round, then taking over and tuning up the fatigued Brazilian for the balance of the fight, even threatening to finish in the closing seconds. Afterward, Algeo got on the mic with a bizarre callout of Chikadze that wasn’t funny or insulting so much as confusing, leaving plausible doubt that he knew the difference between Georgia the state and Georgia the country. In any event, the truly ridiculous part of the speech was the idea that at 2-2 in the UFC, Algeo had any chance of actually getting a fight with a contender. However, it was his second time outlasting and grinding down a more heralded prospect in the Octagon, and may go down as his best win so far. In the ultra-deep featherweight division, Algeo’s job is probably more than safe, but he needs at least three more wins in a row to even make a blip on the rankings radar. Brown, who defeated Charles Rosa on Saturday’s undercard, is also 2-2 in the UFC, also coming off his best performance, and finds himself in the same spot as Algeo, professionally speaking. Easy match to make.