Arnold Allen used tempo and strain to outwork Giga Chikadze over three rounds to place an finish to his two-fight skid and get again within the win column at UFC 304.
Whereas he had a little bit of a tough begin to the night time, Allen simply saved coming after Chikadze with every passing minute and the relentless aggression lastly wore down the Georgian featherweight. The second half of the combat actually confirmed Allen’s resolve as he bloodied Chikadze and simply by no means gave him room to breathe till the motion got here to a detailed.
When it was over, all three judges scored the combat 29-28 with Allen getting the nod to kick off the primary card.
“He’s an awesome striker,” Allen mentioned about Chikadze. “Like I mentioned within the fighter assembly, I’m an awesome striker, too. Put me up with the large boys.”
It was a kick heavy offense from Chikadze as he constantly launched his proper leg, consistently switching up his goal between the pinnacle and the physique. Allen got here again up high with quick and highly effective fingers whereas ensuring to showcase good protection to keep away from these kicks from Chikadze.
It wasn’t till late within the opening spherical when Allen lastly linked with an enormous hook however Chikadze was prepared to fireplace proper again at him with a wild change together with a flying knee simply earlier than the horn sounded.
Whereas his kicks have been extremely efficient, Chikadze additionally began growing a nasty lead jab that was simply stabbing Allen within the face repeatedly. Chikadze’s motion was actually giving Allen suits as a result of he simply wasn’t capable of minimize off the cage and he simply didn’t have as a lot velocity as his opponent.
It wasn’t till Chikadze began to decelerate because of the fixed strain coming from Allen that the Brit was lastly capable of start catching him with mixtures, together with a number of stiff punches that landed clear. Allen continued to march ahead whereas lastly closing the space on Chikadze because the featherweights traded strikes on the ft.
Allen’s left hand saved discovering a house on Chikadze’s chin and he actually simply saved up the assaults with little resistance from his opponent.
The robust begin gave technique to an awesome finish for Allen as he did sufficient to get the win and preserve his spot among the many finest featherweight division.
