David Onama used his wrestling to get the better of Giga Chikadze this evening at UFC On ESPN 66.
Round One
Chikadze with a calf kick. Now a body kick. Inside leg kick. Onama with a kick of his own now. Fast punch from Chikadze.
Another calf kick from Chikadze. Head kick attempt is blocked. Rapid hooks from him are blocked by Onama. Body kick for Chikadze behind a couple of punches.
Wheel kick attempt from Chikadze. Calf kick for Chikadze. Onama clips him with a right hook though and that has Chikadze backing up for a moment.
Chikadze back to sitting down on a few straight punches now though. Glancing uppercut from Onama. Chikadze with a leg kick and Onama responds with punches as he looks to apply more pressure.
Hard right hand from Chikadze seems to trouble Onama and he looks to capitalize. However, Onama is able to clinch up and land a takedown to shift the momentum.
Round Two
Front kick to the body from Onama. Hard right hand from Chikadze. Low kick from Onama. He keeps chipping away at that and then tries to land an overhand afterwards that doesn’t connect.
Uppercut from Onama and more punches behind it. Inside leg kick from Chikadze. Onama with a decisive entry into a takedown close to the cage.
Onama in side control here with half the round remaining. Chikadze gets him back to half-guard. Chikadze trying to get back to his feet now. There’s a bit of a scramble, but Onama stays on top in half-guard.
Elbow strikes from Onama. Final seconds of the round and Chikadze fights his way back to his feet and fires off a few punches.
Round Three
Step-in knee to the body lands for Onama. Jab for him too. High kick attempt from Chikadze. Nice one-two for Onama. They exchange punches again.
Solid body punch from Chikdaze. Now a body kick. He lands another punch to the midsection. Right hand for Chikadze and a flurry of punches behind it.
Onama flicks out his jab. Right hand a calf kick from Chikadze. Onama drives into a takedown and lands it, but might have ate a strike in the process.
Nevertheless, Onama is now in Chikadze’s guard with two minutes remaining. Chikadze trying to escape now and Onama looks to get onto his back, but they end up back in the spot again with Onama on top in the center of the Octagon.
Elbow strike lands for Onama. Punch lands for him and now several more ground-and-pound strikes in the final seconds of the round.
Decision
Chikdaze was getting the better of the striking action in the early rounds, but Onama adjusted accordingly by switching to his wrestling in the second-half of the fight, and that paid off for him in the end with a unanimous decision victory (29-28 x3).
