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Giga Chikadze battles Calvin Kattar at UFC Vegas 46. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty ImagesEven after his first loss in the UFC, Giga Chikadze remains unfazed with the belief that he’s the better fighter than Calvin Kattar. For the first time in his UFC career, Giga Chikadze is dealing with a loss. It happened at the hands of Calvin Kattar at UFC Vegas 46 on Saturday, where he absorbed quite a beating throughout the five-round battle. Chikadze wore the fight on his face after absorbing a barrage of knees and elbows within those 25 minutes of action. But despite his beaten state, the proud Georgian remains ardent in the belief that he is the better fighter. In a post-fight video he released through Facebook Live, the 33-year-old put the entire featherweight division on notice after going through what he sees as a learning experience. “This is a part of the journey when I signed up for this sport. I knew (losing was a part) of it. I f—ked up last night, but it’s all good, it’s the journey. I’m learning from this. Next time, I’m gonna come back so much stronger. “I already feel bad for my future opponents. I’m gonna learn a lot from this one. Trust me on that.” Chikadze may have absorbed a beating from Kattar, but if given the chance for nine more fights, he believes he wins all of them. “Also, I feel like if I would fight with this guy ten times, nine I would win. That would be the one I would lose, that was last night,” he said. “It is what it is. I made a mistake and I’m paying (for it) now. It’s all good. I’m unbrokable. Remember this shit. Georgians always unbreakable. This is how we fight. ’Til the f—ng end.” The loss to Kattar snaps Chikadze’s nine-fight win streak dating back to 2018. He now drops to a record of 14-3.

Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLCHere’s more context on the numbers behind the decision to increase the UFC’s PPV price (again). The pay-per-view price for a UFC event has recently been increased from $69.99 to $74.99. It’s been much more expensive to be an MMA fan in the US these days, as this also marked the third PPV price hike since 2019. That pay-per-view price is also paid on top of a $6.99 monthly ESPN+ subscription, which was also increased for the second time last year. Dana White, who recently boasted about having a massive 2021 where they broke all their financial records, said this is a decision made by ESPN, not the UFC. “We don’t have any say in that,” White said at UFC Vegas 46’s post-fight press conference (transcribed by MMA Fighting). “We gave the pay-per-views to ESPN, so yeah, that’s their decision. You know how I feel about that stuff. I don’t love when prices get raised, but it’s not my decision. It’s theirs.” While White washed his hands on the price hike, it’s also worth putting more context to the numbers behind this decision. The way the UFC’s deal is structured has ESPN paying them more each year, with reported annual increases of roughly around 5%. This contracted revenue also plays a part on why the UFC keeps breaking their financial records each year since the ESPN deal started. According to Morgan Stanley, UFC’s US domestic media rights are projected to rise from around $295 million in 2021 to $308 million in 2022. ESPN in turn will naturally find a way to try and recoup these increasing payments. Technically, it’s indeed not the UFC’s call, but with the way the ESPN deal was set up, the PPV (and ESPN+) price hike has not only been expected, it seems almost inevitable.

Photo by Yelena Afonina\TASS via Getty ImagesYouTube suspended the official ACA YouTube channel following the latest round of sanctions against Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov in 2020. Absolute Championship Akhmat—an organization owned and funded by Chechnya’s despotic leader, Ramzan Kadyrov—plans to sue Google for suspending the MMA promotion’s official YouTube channel. The channel was suspended shortly after the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued its latest round of sanctions against the Chechen dictator for “serious violations of human rights” in December 2020. “We will sue over the sanctions in our direction, regarding being blocked by Google and YouTube,” ACA President Alexei Yatsenko told Championat.com. “At first, we appealed to the prosecutor’s office, but this did not have any effect. So, we will definitely sue.” Following up on Kadyrov’s previous designation on December 20, 2017, where the OFAC sanctioned the Head of the Chechen Republic for “being responsible for extrajudicial killing, torture, or other gross violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals,” the OFAC doubled down three years later by designating Kadyrov pursuant to the Global Magnitsky Executive Order for leading an entity accused of “illegal abductions, torture, extrajudicial executions, and other abuses, including the detention of journalists and activists.” In addition to Kadyrov, the OFAC also sanctioned six companies that provide the Chechen tyrant “pride and profit,” including Kadyrov’s infamous Akhmat fight club and ACA– a decision that held significant ramifications across the sport. According to the OFAC, the sanctions’ implications extend to “all property and interests in property of the persons above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.”

Conor McGregor reacts after his UFC 264 loss to Dustin Poirier in July. | Photo By Thomas King/Sportsfile via Getty ImagesHenry Cejudo’s Twitter trash talk game is getting better. Retired former UFC double-champion Henry Cejudo has been all over the news these past days because of his incessant calls for a title shot against Alexander Volkanovski. In response, UFC president Dana White simply shut down and scoffed at “Triple C’s” demands. “The last time I saw, he’s retired. And now he’s mad he didn’t get a title shot? That doesn’t even make sense. In a different weight class? It doesn’t make sense,” White told reporters during the UFC Vegas 46 post-event scrum on Saturday. “So I should’ve jumped over everybody and gave it to him because all of a sudden, last week he decided he’s not retired? Come on, man. This is a f—ng silly conversation. Silly.” From out of nowhere, Conor McGregor decided to chime in his two cents in his usual “Notorious” fashion. The UFC’s biggest superstar posted this tweet. H/T: Sportskeeda Cejudo’s likely practicing his smack talk game in retirement. Shortly after, he issued this response to the Irishman. What do you know about farting? You always run out of gas. https://t.co/IYISReW51v— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) January 16, 2022 Then came another retort. @TheNotoriousMMA I have nothing but respect for you. Hopefully when I see you we can shake hands and you can do a line off my head. pic.twitter.com/dWnI8ljkPR— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) January 17, 2022 McGregor ended up deleting his tweet, as per usual. The 34-year-old Cejudo retired in 2020 after successfully defending the bantamweight belt via second-round TKO against Dominick Cruz.