Mate Sanikidze secures a split decision win to claim Oktagon gold in back and fourth bout – Oktagon Highlights
In the Co-Main event of Oktagon 37, Mate Sanikidze became the new Oktagon Featherweight champion after a back-and-forth battle with Jakub Tichot, seeing himself claim the vacant title.
Having only spent 2 fights with the promotion (now 3) Mate Sanikidze has already captured the gold and now sets himself up for an emphatic run as champion.
The first round saw Tichota come out very fast pressing Sanikidze against the cage, the pressure saw Tichota secure a knockdown. However, just shortly after Sanikidze lands a beautiful shot to the chin, which we saw a few times before this knockdown.
In a very back-and-forth round, the edge had to be given to Sanikidze after finishing the round on top using his ground and pound.
The second round saw Sanikidze start out at the same pace but this time hitting the ground with both men again going back and forth. Tichota landed a big shot on the buzzer but Sanikidze remained unfazed.
The left leg of Sanikidze looked compromised leading to the third with Tichota jumping straight to the leg kicks and Sanikidze looking to grapple. the third round saw Tichota begin to up the pace and use the forward pressure but Sanikidze is landing clean shots whenever Tichota comes inside. But again it was Sanikidze who finished the round pressuring.
Heading into championship rounds, no fighter had slowed down and continued to keep the pace high in what had been a true martial arts fight. with another flurry to finish the 4th round.
At the beginning of the 5th, there was a clear showing of respect between the two who had already left everything they can in the cage.
The 5th saw exactly what Sanikidze needed to control the round on the ground. reigning down vicious ground and pound in the last 10 seconds.
