Calvin Kattar is not worried about the implications of his upcoming main event.
Kattar (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) headlines the UFC’s July 15 event on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi when he takes on Dan Ige.
Winner of three of his last four fights, Kattar is coming off a second-round finish over Jeremy Stephens at UFC 249, arguably his biggest win to date.
The featherweight title contention picture is expected to be further clarified, with Brian Ortega rumored to face Chan Sung Jung and rumblings of a matchup between Yair Rodriguez and Zabit Magomedsharipov.
Kattar draws the streaking Ige (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC), but isn’t focusing on where a win may place him in the ultra competitive 145-pound division.
“It’s funny, I don’t really give a (expletive) about none of these guys,” Kattar told MMA Junkie. “I don’t think about them like I should. I’m too focused on – think about that, you spend all your energy thinking about all these other people, it’s like I don’t give them that energy. I just focus on me, my fight coming up. I barely focus on Dan Ige, I just focus on myself and each session everyday.
“You do that enough, it’s just gonna pay dividends. You do enough good things, eventually great things are gonna happen and right now we have Dan Ige, main event, Abu Dhabi, sounds like a cool checkpoint to me and all those other guys can get it on the backend.”
After edging out Edson Barboza at UFC on ESPN 8 in May, Ige asked for various top contenders, including Kattar, and it didn’t take long for his wish to be granted.
And Kattar is looking forward to put an end to his six-fight winning streak.
“Yeah tough kid, he got what he asked for,” Kattar said. “He called me out and a couple of others big guys in the division. It was a cool checkpoint for my buddies, they’re all laughing like ‘oh you’re getting called out, it’s a good thing.’ He’s done what he’s had to do with the last six guys and I’m looking to put a stop to that.”
Calvin Kattar: Dan Ige headliner a 'cool checkpoint' in divisional race