UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Chikadze

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

I actually don't mind Max pulling out of that fight, Alex would have finished him this time. 

And the TKZ fight is kinda interesting, though Alex will cream him too.

giga vs kattar 

Fading everyones boy here. giga has improved leaps and bounds since the dwcs appearance but im still not totally sold on him as an elite contender yet. I haven't seen him in champ rounds yet to be fully confident in him. he is definitely an elite striker but people are overlooking kattars striking as well. just because giga has flashier and more varied striking does not mean hes going to steamroll kattar (if he does ill gladly eat my words). kattar is a boxer; heavy on the lead leg but he has one of the best jabs in the division. he also is a master at timing and counter punching, which people are really overlooking here. giga does leave himself open when he throws kicks and I think that is where kattar can shine. not only does he have serious ko power but most of his ko's come from perfectly timed punches. sure giga koed cub and barboza but kattar has koed Shane burgos and Jeremey stephens (both guys are as hard to ko as the two giga has fought). I also dont like this notion of giga absolutely destroyed barboza, because he didnt. the fight was 1-1 going into the third and he got the ko. was it very impressive? yes, my jaw hit the floor when he did it but it wasn't a one sided beating like most are saying. Finally, I dont think giga will be able to ko kattar as easily as people think. people are assuming a ko because kattar got absolutely destroyed last fight but he has absorbed over 1000 sig strikes without a single knockdown against him. I suppose giga could land his giga kick but he only has two liver kick knockouts in his mma career so statistics would say this is unlikely. even if I am totally wrong and he destroys kattar, if he doesn't finish him I do not think his gas tank, while improved, will hold up in champ rounds especially if hes getting 10-8 rounds against kattar. im not even going to bother with kattars wrestling background because its highly unlikely he goes to that. you cant change instincts 

chookagian vs maia 2 

ngl I didnt watch any tape for this one. I really dont care about this fight and im pissed this is now the co main. chookagian is a boxer who has a tendency to get the judges nods on scorecards. Maia is a very good grappler but does not use it; she has attempted 4 total takedowns. I see all these people hyping her because she took a round off of Valentina; **** that doesn't mean she wins this matchup. her fight iq is very poor. idk if im wrong, this fight sucks and I hope it somehow gets cancelled, would be the one good cancellation we have 

royal vs bontorin 

I was originally royval all day on this pick but after hearing he is switching up his style from the bonus chasing crazy pace that he is known for. my loss in confidence doesn't come from spite (although I am dissapointed that he doesn't want to be as appealing to the fans) but more the nervousness that comes with changing your style. we've seen it desperately backfire with guys like randy costa for example. granted there is a massive skill difference between the two but I still think its a valid point. so im not fully sure how hes going to look because I have never seen him fight when hes not cranked his speed up to 10000 so I cant really break him down accurately. slowing down his style is good tho as it means he will put himself into less mistakes but that pace is also why made him so good because only the elite could stop him. im assuming hes going to keep his normal striking, which is hands down with unorthodox strikes. bontorin has a questionable chin but I dont think royval will ko him.nwhen it comes to the ground I think bontorin is the more skilled bjj player from a fundamentals perspective, but royval has adapted his bjj knowledge to his style which allows him to pull subs out of positions other people would not be able to. he also loves to Granby roll on the ground creating wild scrambles on the ground. bontorin is the biggest flyweight on the roster so if royval wants to, if he turns up the speed jut a little bit, he will gas bontorin out within a round. 

sherman vs collier 

I dont have the slightest clue why the majority of Tapology is on Sherman here; I really dont. this guy may be the worst HW on the roster and people are still picking him after that dumpster fire of a performance against porter. first off, hes 3-7 in the ufc, which is shocking in its own right but when you look who his wins are, they're guys who are like 2-10 in the ufc combined. I wanted to cut him some slack when he fought arlovski as he looked better and had lost to some tough competition before, but this dude just sucks. he doesn't really hit that hard for someone with 14/15 Kos and has a terrible gas tank and terrible fight iq. collier may look like a fat slob but hes looked quite good at heavyweight. I thought he should have won his last fight but I think he wins by out volume and out cardioing Sherman. I forget the exact number but collier has averaged over 8 significant strikes per minute at heavyweight, making him one of the highest volume strikers at the weight class; higher than guys like Chris daukaus. he does slow down a little bit but hes able to keep the same output. the first round may be a little ugly but as long as he doesn't get koed he should take this easy past the first round. also dont be fooled by Shermans recent ig physique and camp change to sanford, its not going to make him any better 

brito vs alego 

one of the few good fights left on this card. brito had somewhat of an underwhelming performance on dwcs but he has a lot more to show. idk if it was the spotlight or pressure but he didnt fight as aggressive as he usually does. after watching tape on him, I see why dana was so high on him. he is very aggressive and his striking consists of hooks thrown with max power. hes also got very good wrestling and dangerous bjj. hes getting a decently tough debut here as algeo is a lot better than his record would show. he is also a very aggressive striker and has brought it to everyone hes fought even in his losses. the main reason he loses fights is his tdd. he gets taken down multiple times by everyone he fights, now he has a very good get up game but this lack of care on the takedowns does cost him on the scorecards. brito also has better wrestling than pretty much everyone hes fought except for lamas (although idk where you would rank the version of lamas that he fought, current brito might be better than older lamas at wrestling). but I honestly think brito will ko him here. algeo has never been koed and has a very good chin but here's why; first, hes very hittable, not something you want to be against a guy like brito, seriously this guy is easily the hardest hitter hes fought. another thing that makes me more confident is their respective striking. as I said earlier, britos striking consists of high power hooks while algeo gets in your face and just throws straight punches not caring about getting hit.

thanks bro, you are right. I will be looking around!

yeah its not illegal to watch a illegal stream. its frowned upon but the government cant do anything about it nor can dana. he just tried to scare people by saying hes watching them and hunting them down. most of the big streaming sites are in china or Russia and are untouchable by the law thats in place anyways. so the government cant do ****

Really liking your break downs bro.

And gives me confidence in my Benitez pick, you are right he almost out struck and beat Sodiq Yusuf, I had forgotten about that and that is a really good point. If I remember right he dropped him too.

Also I like your comparison of Taila Santos and Ramiz Brahimaj, I have a lot of faith in him though I do not have faith in Fortis MMA. I hope he proves us right!

Also like your points on Kattar, also add to that that he might well wrestle Giga and also that he has amazing ability to cut angles. Didn't work on Max who is definitely a better boxer but Giga is not a better boxer.

I think one thing we will see is Kattar wait for Gigas kicks and counter over the top with some nice boxing combinations. I think he will KO Giga Chikadze (the uncrowned divisional champion).

* Edited at 01.11.2022, 8:27 PM ET *

Iirc correctly I think the bontorin fight with schnell was somewhat short notice like a few weeks. He's made 125 before, I just think with his heavy size he needs a good notice to cut down ahead of time, before the final dehydration cut to make it. I think he thought he should be able to make 135 on short notice but overestimated. 

As a bontonrin picker in this fight, it's not so much the gas tank that concerns me as it is his chin from the large cut. They say the cut affects your CNS and makes it harder to take damage, and I don't fight so idk, but that makes sense to me. And he seems to get rocked a lot and knocked out by france after dominating. But I don't think royval nessesarily hits hard. He's got great volume and good ground game but not the most powerful striker.

thanks man always appreciate feedback 👍 

yeah ive seen a lot of people say he has a bad chin and you're right about the cut affecting it but I really would be more worried about the gas tank than the chin here. royval will probably not ko him. its just that when the guy is cutting almost 40 pounds against the most fast paced fighter in the division(we'll have to see how much slower royval actually comes out) is a concern. if he does his normal Granby roll scramble thats gonna add up for bontorin

Yeah I mean I get why everyones picking royval but I think if it's a successful cut and he looks good at weigh ins that size and strength will be a real problem for him on the ground. Wet blanket style. But it's a fight where I reeaaaalllyyy need to see the weigh ins. 

But I love over 1.5 for a flyweight fight at only -130, still yet to come out on the books here tho so we'll see. I was interested at like -165 but money's come in on under 1.5 

@DC 

I agree bro -  I doubt Royval will KO Bontorin or vice versa. Also doubt either is submitting the other till late in R2. But I agree with Ayy in that Royvals pace will be a major major problem for Bontorin if he does not a quick finish. Over 1.5 looking good.

Hey guys one more factor, how do you think the smaller Apex cage will play into the Kattar/Giga fight?

I think its advantage Kattar again.

* Edited at 01.11.2022, 8:36 PM ET *

It's probably a slight advantage for kattar, because he's more in your face that giga whose staying on the outside more, but with them both being very clearly only strikers I don't think it'll make the biggest difference.

Also on another note it’s so funny to me that Michels fight got moved because his cornerman got covid. Good to know if salikhov never pulled out the fight was never gonna happen anyways lol

* Edited at 01.11.2022, 8:45 PM ET *

I don't mean to get political, which is really isn't but it seems to be considered it.....

With covid seemingly following basic virology to mutate to become more contagious and less lethal, we're probably going to get a lot of cancelled fights this year until we get to the point where it's just treated like the flu. 

Honestly this start seems like bad omen for 2022. 

ive lerned to expect that any fight will get cancelled and the better a fight is the higher chance it has of falling through and vice versa. I would say it decreases my dissapointment but it really doesn't lol. I wouldn't worry too much about covid the only fight cancelled because of covid out of all these cancellations has been Michels. everyone else is just getting injured which is really ******* annoying. its like fighters forgot to stay healthy

Last Chance :  Sherman, Royval

As always, accepting challenges so send 'em.

* Edited at 01.11.2022, 11:10 PM ET *

Just finished watching some more fights of McGee and Brahimaj.

A lot of people are holding up how McGee faired ok against a grappler in Sean Brady and comparing that to Brahimaj. I suggest you actually go watch the fight!

Brady very obviously had no interest in wrestling until R2, he just clearly wanted to keep it mainly standing (which he did) and show off his striking. As for his striking it was painfully obvious that McGee is too slow and too hittable now and you can see his punches coming a mile away. He almost got finished in R1.

Also Brady was not able to keep him grounded, I think Brahimaj will do much better at that and definitely attack more submissions when on top. I think Brahimaj has better BJJ than Brady. And his striking was on par with Max Griffin and then he got kicked in the balls badly

Brahimaj will be too fast, too strong and athletic and too young for Cort McGee. True he may get tired in R3 but Brady is a gasser too and he won.

* Edited at 01.12.2022, 12:03 AM ET *

Brady has much better bjj than ramiz. He just had a huge upset over one of the greatest bjj practitioners of all time, Craig Jones. Ramiz isn't even a brown belt....if Brady was unable to control Mcgee on the ground, it's unlikely Ramiz will. This will likely be a sloppy striking match and ramiz simply has not displayed enough striking in his career to be comfortable backing him in such an affair. 

Go with your gut, your first instinct is probably right. The more you read and the more people talk just becomes clutter and effs your head up. If you follow and watch every week you have your own take and that's all you need. Kind of like if you pay attention in class you don't need to study for the test. MMA is the most volatile sport, one shot landed in the right spot and all your tape watchin means f$#% all. I totally agree with @DC that this year may be a lil bumpy. My goal for 2022 is to follow my own instinct, head will be more clear and wallet will be fatter. Good luck gents.

@Mayo thanks for the detailed breakdowns. High effort posts should be rewarded, and the fact that you did that and got only downvotes is more proof of how ******** this site has become.

* Edited at 01.12.2022, 12:46 AM ET *

@baldric I swear my ****post get more upvotes then my high effort post, But I still do tons of high effort post because I don't care about getting downvoted because I say what I think, I don't say **** to please people, 

@mayo also good **** brother

* Edited at 01.12.2022, 1:31 AM ET *