Tyson Chartier taking cautious approach with Calvin Kattar, expects UFC return in fall

Coach Tyson Chartier does not want Calvin Kattar to rush his return to the octagon.

Kattar (22-5 MMA, 6-3 UFC) is coming off a lopsided unanimous decision loss to former feather UFC champion Max Holloway this past January, where he showed incredible heart and durability but was ultimately overwhelmed for five rounds.

Holloway put an incredible pace on Kattar, who did not stop firing back despite absorbing the most significant strikes of anyone in a single bout in UFC history. Two months later, Chartier gave a positive update on Kattar’s health, but he insists that he doesn’t want to see him return until he’s taken a lengthy time away.

“He’s good,” Chartier told MMA Junkie. “So Calvin’s really been in fight camp since before the Lamas fight. So like a year-and-a-half, he’s just been going from fight to fight to fight with dinged up hands, broke his nose three times. He’s been a beast, dieting through holidays, dieting through birthdays, missing family events. After that fight, we could have tried to come back fast. We could have made the same mistake other teams make and try to push it because it was really no technical injuries or anything like that that would have stopped us from being able to fight. But after the fight I was like, ‘Listen, you earned a break.’

“So our plan was chill out, travel with your family, help Rob (Font) mentally, just kinda be there for the team and just take some time away from the gym. He’s still in the gym. He’s still watching guys train. We’re not letting him do any contact training at all. I have a very conservative approach to coming back from these things, so I’m saying six months no contact at all. We just cleared him to start jogging, working very close with the (UFC Performance Institute). We’ve gotten a few MRIs after the fight, everything is good, but we’re still being super cautious and probably even more conservative than the doctors would require somebody to. I know it’s more conservative.”

Prior to the Holloway loss, Kattar had won four of five fights with impressive wins over Ricardo Lamas, Jeremy Stephens and Dan Ige. He remains a top contender in the featherweight division, and Chartier wants him to ease his way back into training. Chartier has no doubt that, after taking the necessary amount of rest, Kattar will come back stronger.

“So just wait until July, hit that six-month mark, and then get a new MRI just to be safe, and then get back to training slowly, and we’ll just see how he progresses,” Chartier said. “Fight again in the fall. So he still gets two fights this year, he gets to rest his head for at least six months, probably more. We’re gonna come back better, and he’s gonna learn a lot from that fight. His confidence didn’t dwindle at all from that performance.

“He got to feel that level of probably the best featherweight that’s ever walked this earth and realized, ‘I kind of laid an egg, he fought really good, I felt it, and now I wanna get there.’ So I think it wasn’t a discouraging experience; it was motivating, and I think when people see him come back this fall, it’ll be just like Brian Ortega. That last loss is behind you, and you’re on to the next thing.”