AUSTIN, Texas – Calvin Kattar seems to always find himself in hard back-and-forth fights, and despite his desire to have an easier night at the office, he knows his fight style welcomes the battles.
Kattar (23-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC) started off the year with an early Fight of the Year nominee gainst Giga Chikadze in January. Five months later he is prepared to enter his fourth-straight main event to face Josh Emmett at UFC on ESPN 37, a matchup that has the potential to be another intense bout.
Kattar would like a one-sided showing this time around to take a break from the drag-out wars he’s become accustomed to, but knows the possibility of another one heading for the Moody Center on Saturday evening as he prepares to put himself in position for a shot at the featherweight title.
“I’m always prepared for the banger,” Kattar told reporters including MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s media day. “I think it’s what you gotta do for a fight at this caliber is be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. … It could go one of two ways: either one of us gets it done early and make it look easy, or it’s gonna be a five-round banger.”
In his second main event under the UFC banner, Emmett (17-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) will be looking to make it five-straight wins on Saturday. Kattar knows his opponent will carry power throughout the fight, which could lead to that type of war he says “would be nice” to avoid.
“My style, you know, sometimes I just get in there and find myself fighting that style of fight,” Kattar explained. “I don’t shy away from a challenge like that, as you see, look at the list of guys I’ve competed against. We haven’t turned down a fight yet, and that’s not really something that when I got to UFC that I planned on doing. You come to the UFC to fight the best guys in the world and earn your opportunities, and I think we’ve both done a good job of earning this main event Saturday night. May the best man win.”
The man that gets the best of the other on Saturday will find themselves on the shortlist for a title shot, if not outright earning the chance to face the winner of the upcoming championship bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway at UFC 276.
Kattar says he has no preference on who he’d like to face between the two because things like that are beyond his control. While he is very interested to watch that fight as a fan, right now his focus is on handling business against Emmett.
“I don’t have to hate a guy to get in there to fight him,” Kattar said about his opponent. “We’re just trying to chase that life on the other side of a win. Seems like a good guy, you know? Fighting for a lot of the same reasons that I am and I got a lot of respect for that. But Saturday night, it’s him or me. I gotta go out and do what I gotta do to get the job done.”