Giga Chikadze is favored against Cub Swanson at UFC Fight Night: Reyes vs. Prochazka on Saturday, May 1 in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event is one of six fights on the main card on ESPN 2/ESPN+. Swanson is 27-11 in his career, while Chikadze is 12-2 in his career. There are a total of six fights on the main card on UFC Fight Night: Reyes vs. Prochazka, with the headliner a bout between Dominick Reyes and Jiri Prochazka. There are also a total of six fights on the preliminary card on ESPN 2/ESPN+. Let’s look at the bout between Swanson and Chikadze and UFC picks.
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Cub Swanson (27-11, 12-7 UFC)
Swanson came into the UFC with a record of 15-4 and he has 12 wins and seven losses in the UFC. In his last six fights, he has two wins and four losses. He defeated Kron Gracie by unanimous decision and Daniel Pineda by KO; while losing to Brian Ortega by guillotine choke submission, Frankie Edgar by unanimous decision, Renato Moicano by rear-naked choke submission, and Shane Burgos by split decision. Swanson has been a pro since 2004 and he has 12 wins by TKO/KO and seven by submission. He has seven first round finishes.
Swanson said this to desertsun.com about his upcoming fight against Chikadze, “He’s on a win streak in UFC, which always makes a guy dangerous because confidence is everything. But I know his weaknesses and I know his strengths, and it’s just a matter of going out and performing and not letting him use his best weapons.”
Giga Chikadze (12-2, 5-0 UFC)
Chikadze came into the UFC with a record of 7-2 and he has five wins and no losses in the UFC. He defeated Brandon Davis by split decision, Jamall Emmers by split decision, Irwin Rivera by unanimous decision, Omar Morales by unanimous decision, and Jamey Simmons by TKO. Chikadze’s last loss in his career was against Austin Springer by rear-naked choke submission on June 19, 2018. Chikadze has been a pro since 2015 and he has seven wins by TKO/KO and one by submission. He has eight first round finishes.
Chikadze said this to mmajunkie.usatoday.com about his upcoming fight against Swanson, “I got super excited. I couldn’t sleep all night. This is a guy that I’ve been watching for a long time, since I started to really recognize some of the fighters in the UFC and especially in my weight division, and that guy’s been around for a long, long time. He was always like a top-five guys, fought a couple of times in a title fight. I’m just excited. I know he’s one that likes to fight. He’s going to come forward, and that’s what brings the best in me. When it comes to highlights guys and highlights skillset, I don’t know if we need to talk about him in this case. Probably that’s going to be me. But I’m definitely sure that he’s still going to bring his grappling and wrestling skills because everyone thinks they need to take me down and they’re right about that, because I feel I’m the best striker in the UFC, inside the MMA sport, so that’s what he needs to try.”
Striking Stats
Strikes landed per minute: Swanson 4.64/ Chikadze 3.45
Striking Accuracy: Swanson 50% / Chikadze 43%
Strikes absorbed per minute: Swanson 3.64/ Chikadze 2.65
Defense: Swanson 60% / Chikadze 60%
Grappling Stats
Takedown average: Swanson 1.09/ Chikadze 0.38
Takedown Accuracy: Swanson 51% / Chikadze 33%
Takedowns defended: Swanson 60% / Chikadze 68%
Submission average: Swanson 0.5/ Chikadze 0.0
UFC Picks
Swanson has struggled lately in the UFC with winning just two of his last six fights, while Chikadze is unbeaten in the UFC. The only chance I see for Swanson is if he gets this fight to the mat, but I don’t see that happening. Chikadze has solid takedown defense and it is not like Swanson is a submission expert. I will lay the small price and expect Chikadze to get the win.
UFC Fight Night: Reyes vs. Prochazka takes place at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, May 1 with six fights on the main card on ESPN 2/ESPN+, headlined by Dominick Reyes vs. Jiri Prochazka and six preliminary bouts, also on ESPN2/ESPN+.
Main Card (ESPN2/ESPN+)
Light Heavyweight - Dominick Reyes vs. Jirí Procházka
Featherweight - Cub Swanson vs. Giga Chikadze
Light Heavyweight - Ion Cu?elaba vs. Dustin Jacoby
Middleweight - Sean Strickland vs. Krzysztof Jotko
Bantamweight - Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cody Stamann
Women’s Flyweight - Poliana Botelho vs. Luana Carolina
Preliminary Card (ESPN2 / ESPN+)
Women’s Strawweight - Randa Markos vs. Luana Pinheiro
Featherweight - Gabriel Benítez vs. Jonathan Pearce
Featherweight - Kai Kamaka III vs. T.J. Brown
Women’s Strawweight - Loma Lookboonmee vs. Sam Hughes
Featherweight - Luke Sanders vs. Felipe Colares
Middleweight - Andreas Michailidis vs. KB Bhullar
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