Arnold Allen and Giga Chikadze at the UFC 304 official weigh-in. Photo by Patrick McCauley/Cageside Press
Giga Chikadze made his return to action for the first time in 11 months on Saturday, taking on Arnold Allen in the opening bout of the main card at UFC 304 in Manchester, England.
The Georgian featherweight boxer was looking to ride the momentum of his recent win over Alex “Bruce Leroy” Caceres, while Allen was looking to bounce back from consecutive losses to Max Holloway and Movsar Evloev.
Chikadze went all out, attacking Allen with a variety of kicks, but Allen’s defense was strong, reading the attacks aimed at him and countering with some powerful strikes of his own.
Chikadze landed a ferocious flying knee with two seconds left in the first round, but Allen countered with a front kick to his opponent’s jaw to close out the round.
The second round was fairly even from start to finish, but Allen seemed to be coming in sharper and landing the more powerful strikes as the round drew to a close. The bout was a 10-minute bout, played out round by round.
The Georgia featherweight used his movement to avoid Allen’s attacks, but Chikadze began to lose momentum in the third and final rounds. Allen blocked off the cage and landed a flurry of punches, eventually winning the third round and securing a unanimous decision victory.
Following his big win in Manchester, Allen is looking to climb further up the featherweight rankings and secure a top-five opponent, perhaps such as “El Pantera” Yair Rodriguez, for his next bout.
“We wanted Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega, but those fights haven’t happened (yet),” Allen told Daniel Cormier in his post-fight interview.
As for Chikadze, he will be going back to the drawing board again, looking to improve on this performance and make any necessary adjustments after losing two of his last three matches.
Official result: Arnold Allen defeats Giga Chikadze via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
