A fight between Calvin Kattar and Giga Chikadze will headline UFC Fight Night 201, the promotion’s first event of 2022, on January 15th.
For Kattar this will be his first fight since being completely dismantled for five rounds against former champion Max Holloway back in January of this year.
That result was a big disappointment for the 33-year-old, who had come into the bout high on confidence after having KO’d Jeremy Stephens and beaten Dan Ige on the scorecards in the previous year.
Nonetheless, with a 6-3 record overall in the UFC to date and other notable winners against the likes of Ricardo Lamas, Shane Burgos and Andre Fili, Kattar still holds down the No.5 spot in the featherweight ranks.
Meanwhile, Chikadze is developing a reputation as one of the most exciting rising forces in the division, having now won seven fights in a row since joining the UFC back in 2019.
In his earlier fights for the promotion, Chikadze was fighting his way to decision victories, but the former Glory kickboxing star has turned up the heat in his recent outings, with his kicking game setting up TKO stoppages against Jamey Simmons and Cub Swanson, while punches took out Edson Barboza in his most recent and biggest fight to date, taking him to No.8 in the rankings.
Kattar vs. Chikadze fronts a UFC Fight Night 201 show that is still a work in progress, but will also feature the likes of Court McGee vs. Ramiz Brahimaj and Rogerio Bontorin vs. Brandon Royval.
