Welcome back to the world of the highest level MMA on the planet, the UFC. It was a nice break over the holidays. Mine was not perfect as I did have a bout with COVID, as I’m sure many of you did. Now that we are past that, we are back to the grind, and our first fight card is UFC Vegas 46.
UFC Vegas 46 comes at us from the Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, January 15th, 2022. The card kicks off at 4PM EST, unfortunately overlapping with the NFL playoffs. January 15th is generally a great day, as yours truly celebrates another birthday.
The card was a decent enough Fight Night card, but we have seen fights fall off, and are currently down to just 10 total fights. With the amount of people overall testing positive for COVID, it would be an upset if we did not lose at least one more fight to cancellation.
Main Event Preview
The card is headlined by strikers Giga Chikadze and Calvin Kattar. While we assuredly have a striking affair on our hands, these two fighters are quite different.
Giga Chikadze has made quite the ascension, and will have his eyes on the title picture in 2022 with a win. A win in this fight would mark eight straight since joining the promotion. While his overall level of competition is not the greatest, his KO win over Edson Barboza in his most recent fight was wildly impressive.
Giga will look to fight at range, as he prefers. His kicks are the best weapon in his arsenal and range striking is his bread and butter. If Calvin Kattar allows Chikadze to dictate range, it will be a tough night for Kattar.
Kattar does have advantages in this fight. He is the better boxer and will do better on inside exchanges. Kattar does not always force the fight to take place inside and does spend entire fights advancing, so the correct fighter is favored. That said, the -240 price tag on Chikadze is higher than it should be. Chikadze is the more likely fighter to win, but Kattar is the better value. Kattar may have a pace an output advantage if this fight goes into deep water. If you are forcing a play on this main event, I’d edge to the Kattar side. However, this is a fight best sat out on the betting side and enjoyed.
Best Bets For UFC Vegas 46
We will have two bets for this card. We did have four, but with Gabriel Benitez pulling out of his fight with TJ Brown, we lost the underdog play on Brown. We also lost a play on Gomez-Suarez, but that fight is only moved back a week. It is likely that one materializes again next week. Let’s get to the plays.
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Click the links below to read our bets and analyses.
Jake Collier vs Chase Sherman
Joseph Holmes vs Jamie Pickett
Other Fight Predictions
Giga Chikadze via KO over Calvin Kattar
Katlyn Chookagian via decision over Jennifer Maia
Brandon Royval via submission over Rogerio Bontorin
Joanderson Brito via decision over Bill Algeo
Ramiz Brahimaj via decision over Court McGee
Charles Rosa via submission over TJ Brown
Viacheslav Borshchev via KO over Dakota Bush
Brian Kelleher via KO over Kevin Croom