Chikadze stole the show when he debuted at GLORY 21 SAN DIEGO on a week’s notice and ran a clinic on Canada’s Ken Tran, a Muay Thai stylist from Canada who was also making his debut for GLORY that night. Chikadze won that one by stoppage in the seod round after demonstrating one of the most impressive kicking games the GLORY ring has ever hosted.
At GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS he was back and again facing a Muay Thai stylist makong his debut in the form of Anvar Boynazarov. Originally from Uzbekistan but now based in California, Boynazarov has spent extensive periods of time in Thailand and holds a 7-1 record at the iconic Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok, no mean feat.
Chikadze had debuted for GLORY as a lightweight (155lbs/70kgs) because of the short notice, but in this one he was at his usual featherweight (145lbs/65kgs). The cut back down to featherweight may have affected him, because while in the first round he was on his A-game with his kicking arsenal, in the second he was pulling in deep breaths.
The first half of the first round saw Chikadze taking things slow as he took a look at Boynazarov’s style and tried to figure him out. Once he had a handle on things he started letting his kicks go, drawing gasps and cheers from the crowd as he hit axe-kicks, spin kicks and a ‘Rolling Thunder’ somersault kick.
Boynazarov showed his pedigree as a Muay Thai champion with clean combination work but he was cut above the right eye by the end of the first round and expectations were high that Chikadze was on his way to a second-round finish. Instead it turned out that Boynazarov, in classic Thai style, had spent the first round assessing his opponent and was now ready to get to work.
Kicker vs. Puncher is a classic style match-up and the two work well as counters against each othe. Boynazarov started letting his hands go and soon found success, snapping Chikadze’s head back several times with uppercuts and crosses and finishing his combinations with shots to the body to sap even more of Chikadze’s energy.
Statistics at the end of the second round told the story: Chikadaze landed nearly double the strikes that Boynazarov did in round one, but in round two that was reversed, Boynazarov having far outlanded his Georgian opponent. With a round each to their name, the third was going to be the decider.
It was clear that both fighters had tired themselves in their early efforts to finish the fight. Advantage passed back and forth as one would start landing shots only to have the other start firing back and reverse the momentum. Boynazarov landed more of his heavy punches but also ate some big body kicks in return, so it was difficult to determine who was doing the most damage. Both of them sported red marks all over their face when the final bell rang.
The closeness of the fight was reflected in the judges’ decision . Every judge had one fighter winning two of the three rounds. One of the judges saw Chikadze as the winner but the other two had it for Boynazarov, handing the Uzbek the win on his debut, much to the delight of his traveling support from Stockton, where he is the head Muay Thai instructor at the Valor MMA facility.
Anvar Boynazarov def. Giga Chikadze, Split-Decision, R3 (29-28, 29-28 29-28)
