Calvin Kattar went from preparing to fight in his home state to being moved into enemy territory.
Kattar and Zabit Magomedsharipov were set to do battle in the co-main event of UFC Boston last month. Magomedsharipov ended up pulling out of the event and the fight was moved to UFC Moscow, which takes place today (Nov. 9). For Kattar, the goal remains unchanged.
Kattar Says Location Change Doesn’t Bother Him
Ahead of UFC Moscow, Kattar told MMAFighting.com that fighting in enemy territory won’t leave a negative impact on his performance.
“It’s a fast-forward, just a few years from my debut to get a headlining spot, it’s a pretty cool opportunity,” Kattar told MMA Fighting. “For me, it was the same thing as fighting Zabit down in Boston. It’s just moved to Russia and then it’s just moved to the main event.
“But for me, it was just always a fight with Zabit. Where or when, it doesn’t matter to me.”
Kattar went on to admit that it would’ve been cool to see those who support him in the crowd at UFC Boston, but he still feels prepared for Magomedsharipov under any circumstance.
“The only thing that really kind of sucked was for everyone that planned to go see me in Boston,” Kattar said. “We had people with suites sold, a couple of hundred tickets already sold, so when I was at that event, it was really mostly to say hi and thank you to everyone that was going there to support me.
“Now it’s my opportunity to go to Russia and I’m gonna give them the fight that they paid to see.”
