Featured: The Georgian Takeover

 The Georgian Takeover

The invasion is here, whether you like it or not. The small country of Georgia, which has about four million people located at the crossroads of Westren Asia and Eastern Europe, is here to take over the UFC and combat sports as we know it. When you say the word Georgia in America, most people will think about the state in the SouthEast region of the country. After the invasion is complete, people will give the country the respect it deserves. As a former History teacher, let me give you a quick lesson on the small country that packs a big punch.

The mostly Christain nation, has been involved in numerous conflicts and wars over the past couple of centuries. They were invaded by The Mongols and The Ottoman Empire, which ruled over them until the 18th century. Then late in that century, they formed an alliance with Russia, that would shape how we see them today. In 1922 they became one of the founding members of the USSR and would join the Red Army in World War II. After Joseph Stalin, a native Georgian, died in 1953, the country slowly started their departure from the USSR. They formally seceded from the Soviet Union in 1991 and gained recognition as an independent country. After becoming independent, they pursued a more Pro-Western forgien policy and that made their relationship with Russia worse and much more tense. This led to the Russo-Georgian War in 2008, where hundreds died and thousands were wounded over territorial disputes in the Transcaucasia region of Georgia. Around 192,000 Georgians were displaced and forced to seek refugee status in other countries (which is why you see a lot of Georgian fighters training and having camps in other countries). There was a ceasefire agreement between the two countries about two weeks into the war, and since then the region has continued to be a messy area where Russia claims territory that they said they would not occupy in the ceasefire agreement.

So, now that you know that the country has been involved in conflicts for years and is still technically in one, let's take a look at some of the fighters that are produced from this country that compete on this weekend's card. 

Roman Dolidze, 32, fights on the main card of this weekend's card against John Allan. The Light Heavyweight is undefeated at 7-0, with four of his wins coming via TKO/KO and the three coming via submission. He was WWFC Light Heavyweight Champ, a title he successfully defended one time. He won his UFC debut by TKO in the first round over Khadis Ibragimov in July of this year. He is comfortable wherever the fight goes and is a threat to finish the fight from numerous positions. Dolidze is about -195 favorite to win his fight this weekend on MyBookie. They also have him at about +800 to win by submission which is very juicy and I will be taking.

Ilia Topuria, 23, fights in the second fight of prelims on this weekend's card against Damon Jackson. He too is undefeated at 9-0, with one win coming via TKO/KO, seven wins coming via submission and one win via decision. He won his UFC debut in October against Youssef Zalal via unanimous decision. He is a Greco-Roman wrestler with a black belt in Jiu Jitsu. His scrambles are something to behold and always seems to get the better end of them. Don’t be fooled by the fact that he only has one knockout on his record. He out struck Zalal, who prides himself as being a striker, in his last fight and his one knockout was a one-hit walk off at BRAVE 29 last year. At only 23 years old, he is only going to get better, which is a scary sight for the rest of the Featherweight division. He is about a -255 favorite to win and +400 to win by TKO/KO/DQ which you can bet your ass I will be taking. 

I could go on for days about the countless number of fighters that have emerged from that area and the ones that we have not even seen yet. Merab Dvaslishvili (12-4, 5-2 UFC), Giga Chikadze (12-2, 5-0 UFC), Guram Kutateladze (12-2, 1-0 UFC) are just some of the other Georgian fighters that should be on everyone's radar as future title contenders.