Calvin Kattar wants to keep his momentum going after his impressive victory over Dan Ige at UFC Fight Night and would be open to fighting former featherweight champion Max Holloway next.
“That’d be great,” Kattar told MMANews. “I know he’s a tough fighter. Another one of these guys that (featherweights) don’t want to compete against. Like I said, I’ll fight any of them. I don’t have a preference. Whoever wants to be busy and stay busy. Good things happen. That’s why Dan Ige and me we got that main event opportunity because we’re willing to go out there and compete.”
Kattar (21-4) picked up his fourth win in his last five fights and is currently ranked #6 in the featherweight rankings. Despite finishing three of his opponents during that span, the “New England Cartel” member thinks a potential Holloway matchup would hit the judges scorecards.
“He’s a high volume guy,” Kattar explained. “He (stood up) pretty much all five founds with the champ. So you’re probably looking a at five round standup war (against him).”
Holloway (21-6) is coming off a split decision loss to Alexander Volkannovski at UFC 251 where 18 media members scored the fight for the Hawaiian. Kattar also believes “Blessed” deserved to get the victory in that featherweight title fight.
“I’d give the nod to Max the way I saw it,” Kattar said. “But I’d have to rewatch it again considering that third round. But my initial reaction, if that was scored as one full round, maybe Max takes it. Because he dropped him in the first and the second. I thought he controlled the cage the whole fight. But either way for the champ to come back after definitely going down two rounds to win the next three. Even if the third was that close. So you got to give credit to him to show up and show that type of championship-caliber performance.”
While both fighters competed recently, Kattar is aiming for a return in the Fall with his teammate Rob Font, who is still recovering from knee surgery.
