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Women’s Flyweights

#2 WFLW | Katlyn Chookagian (15-4, 8-4 UFC) vs. #7 WFLW | Viviane Araujo (10-2, 4-1 UFC)

ODDS: Chookagian (-140), Araujo (+120)

Chookagian at this point looks set to play spoiler for every prospect coming up the flyweight ranks, and it is a role for which the “Blonde Fighter” seems quite suited. Chookagian has always been successful if not particularly inspiring. The first few years of her UFC career saw her adopt a high-volume and low-power approach that led to medium-paced and contentious decisions. That continued once she cut from bantamweight to flyweight, though she finally showed some evolution in her November 2019 victory over Jennifer Maia, which saw her sit down on her punches more and put together the best performance of her career. Of course, the issue for Chookagian is that she operates in the same division as Valentina Shevchenko. The Maia win earned Chookagian a shot at the flyweight queen, and she did not get much done on route to a one-sided loss. To her credit, Chookagian has continued to build on the improvements she showed in the Maia fight, adding more wrestling and pressure to her approach, but given the small probability that she can unseat Shevchenko in a rematch, she is mostly left to serve as a test for potential contenders. Jessica Andrade passed that test in October, but Chookagian turned back Cynthia Calvillo the following month and looks to do the same to Araujo. Brazil’s Araujo had a memorable UFC debut in 2019. A career strawweight up to that point, Araujo accepted a bantamweight fight on just days’ notice and subsequently knocked out Talita Bernardo. Rather than cut back down to 115 pounds, Araujo has found a home at flyweight, where her athleticism and aggression have been enough to overwhelm most of her opponents. However, there are some technical gaps in Araujo’s game, as she is not particularly efficient and can be prone to tiring. Eye had the right mix of technical acumen and physicality to force Araujo into an even fight and cause her to flag down the stretch. That is also likely true of Chookagian, even if the former title contender does not figure to make it a dominant win. It should be contentious, but the call is for Chookagian to take a decision win.

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