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Edgar Chaput
Giga Chikadze vs. Alex Caceres: UFC Fight Night Odds, Prediction
UFC has pitted two fighters with some intriguing recent histories. One, Alex Caceres, fought in June but it was his only time in the octagon all year. The other, Giga Chikadze, hasn’t been able to go through with a fight since January of 2022.
Nevertheless, it’s Giga Chikadze whom the MMA odds view favourably at -240 to Alex Caceres’ +180.
Giga Chikadze UFC Fight Night Singapore Odds
Born in the former Soviet Union (Georgian SSR, specifically), the 34-year-old has a third dan black belt in Goju-ryu karate. Little surprise that his nickname is therefore “Ninja.” The past 20-odd months have witnessed some highs and lows.
Way back in January of last year at UFC on ESPN 32, he fell in a bout against Calvin Kattar in the night’s main event. In the contest’s final seconds, he was knocked down, resulting in a unanimous decision against him. That’s it for his fights since then. Only one other contest could have transpired, that being at UFC Fight Night 210 in September of last year against Sodiq Yusuff, but “Ninja” pulled out because of an injury. In the interim, he was awarded with the UFC 2022 Forrest Griffin Award for his charity work, specifically, his efforts to help people fight cancer.
He hasn’t fought nearly as many fights as this week’s opponent, but his 14-3 record speaks for itself. He’s slightly bulkier than Caceres, coming at 164.4 lbs to his rival’s 158.8. Pardon the pun, but it would be a stretch to say his reach is a great advantage at only 74 inches to Caceres’ 73.5. For Chikadze, it’s all about winning via KO or TKO, with 64 per cent of his successes coming that way. Only 7 seven are represented by submission and 29 thanks to the judges. Ironically, while he wins mostly by KO and TKO, he lands just a bit fewer significant strikes per minute at 4.05 to 4.16. Neither fighter is much of a grappler, with Chikadze attempting even fewer every 15 minutes at only 0.26.
Alex Caceres UFC Fight Night Singapore Odds
The Miami-born Alex Caceres, who enjoys the deep cut nickname “Bruce Leeroy,” is a southpaw. He still practices out of Florida to this day and has earned himself a respectable 21-13 overall record.
As previously established, Caceres just recently had a fight in June at UFC on ESPN 46. A unanimous decision went in his favour over Daniel Pineda. It was also an impressive enough battle to earn the Fight of the Night award. Prior to that was an expected bout against Nate Landwehr at UFC on ESPN 43 in March. However, Caceres cancelled for unknown reasons. Just before Christmas last year at UFC Fight Night 216, he took down Julian Erosa in the first round via TKO.
Whereas his opponent has a slight arm reach advantage, the same can be said of Caceres’ leg reach, which goes to 41 inches against the Georgian’s 40.5. Unlike this week’s rival, TKO and KO are not what lead the way to wins. Only 19 per cent of his victories are earned like that, compared to 33 per cent with submissions and a large 48 per cent coming via judges’ decisions. His fights are a bit quicker than Chikadze’s, but not by much (11:49 to 12:52). The significant hits numbers are comparable, as Caceres dishes out 4.16 every 60 seconds. He does however take fewer (2.87 to 3.35).
