5 ranked Calvin Kattar taking on the quickly rising Giga Chikadze who is ranked 8. Fights like this make me think about that story Ariel tells about Joe Silva, the UFCs first matchmaker. “My job isn’t to build champions, my job is to build contenders.”

And it really feels like the fan base is only considering Giga as the next potential contender in this matchup. When the Featherweight title fight became available, all the talk was about Giga earning the shot with a win. When the title fight is announced, the question becomes, why couldn’t we wait to see if Giga earns the shot?

Why is the higher ranked Calvin Kattar being overlooked? Well, he is coming off a loss. And because we have already seen him against the top of the division. And it was clear that Max Holloway was the better fighter that night, and he came up short to Zabit in 2019. So, we now have him pigeonholed in our minds as a good but not great Featherweight. And the question is soley, just how good is Giga!? We already have a good idea of how good Kattar is, but Giga is still on his climb. Giga is the one who could be the next great contender.

Giga is the rightful favourite in this fight. On paper he is the better striker, and the eye test will tell you that he also has more tools at his disposal on the feet. And momentum is absolutely huge in this sport. Giga is cruising and feeling like the man. Calvin is coming off a year long layoff after a getting an all time beatdown at the hands of Max Holloway. Really feels like everything is setting up for a showcase fight for Giga..

One major advantage that Calvin does carry into this fight is his high-level UFC experience. Giga has one UFC win against a ranked opponent. And that was his last time out against number 9 Edson Barboza.

In 2018 when Calvin Kattar was KOing Shane Burgos on PPV, Giga was fighting opponents with 0 professional fights. Giga’s first two UFC wins were via split decision, and before that he lost to Austin Springer on the Contender Series in 2018!

Giga had been winning fights – but it felt like only a matter of time before he fell short. And I really believed that was going to happen against Barboza. But Giga had far and away his best performance in the octagon and gave me reason to believe he might be for real. And now Giga gets another shot against a ranked opponent.

It feels all but assumed the rising prospect and his kickboxing will be too much the staple of the UFC featherweight division and his boxing. But Calvin is going to come into this contest with confidence he is the better mixed martial artist and he will want to make Giga fight a mixed martial arts bout. I expect to see Calvin mix up his game a lot. And Calvin, based on his experience inside the octagon has every reason to believe he is the better mixed martial artist.

The odds have swelled in Giga’s favour. And this might be a perfect time to bet the line, not the fight.