[autotag]Katlyn Chookagian[/autotag] has worked her way to a UFC title shot by employing a style that could be termed both methodical and effective.
Chookagian (13-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) doesn’t take wild risks in the octagon, which is evidenced by the fact all eight of her UFC fights, win or lose, have gone the distance.
That includes a 4-1 record in her past five fights, and the only loss during that run was a highly debatable split decision against Jessica Eye at UFC 231. The stretch has propelled her to the matchup with UFC flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko on Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 247.
The last time we saw Shevchenko (18-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) in action, Liz Carmouche employed a style so safe against the champion that she was controversially cut by the UFC after losing 50-45 across the board.
Even the knowledge of the UFC’s sometimes-quick trigger finger, though, is not going to get Chookagian to abandon the approach that’s got her all the way to the champion’s doorstep.
“I mean, my style is my style, and I trained martial arts my whole life and the way you adapt is how you become a fighter,” Chookagian told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during a UFC 247 media conference call Monday.
“Sometimes you figure out some of those things and you try to go out and be better. But this is my style and I’m going to fight, and it’s me in there fighting. It’s not anyone else.”
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Chookagian understands her opponent is elite, and that Shevchenko made an example of the last opponent who tried a reckless style when she knocked out Eye with a head kick at UFC 238.
So she’s not about to make a similar mistake. And besides, at the end of the day, Chookagian is the one who has to go in there and square off with Shevchenko, not the fans inside the arena or watching at home.
“It’s easy for anyone on the outside to step in and say, ‘Oh, you should do this, you should do that.’ But they’re not in there doing it and facing the opponent that you’re facing. That’s just my style, and I’m confident in myself as a fighter and a martial artist, and I’m happy with how I perform. And if that was supposed to be an issue, then that’s just how it is supposed to be.”
UFC 247 takes place Saturday at Toyota Center in Houston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on UFC Fight Pass/ESPN+.
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