Kattar, Emmet scrap to improve title contender chances

Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett will battle to move up the pecking order for UFC featherweight title contention when they meet in the main event of a Fight Night at the Moody Centre in Austin, Texas on Sunday morning.

Kattar (23-5) is ranked No 4 in the division and comes into this clash on the back of an impressive unanimous decision win over Giga Chikadze in January of this year. The result saw ‘The Boston Finisher’ bounce back from a loss to Max Holloway in early 2021 in which he sustained a huge amount of punishment.

“It was really just about going out and proving it to everybody,” said Kattar of his victory over Chikadze.

“Talk is cheap. I gotta go out and just show them. I had to go and show everybody and remind them.

“I was happy that it worked out the way it did. Hopefully the recency bias is coming off a big win and not the Max Holloway loss.

“That loss was a little worse than others, obviously, but it is against a great fighter,” he continued.

“So, as far as hanging my head, it wasn’t like that, but it was important for me to just go out and remind everybody and prove to myself that I do know why I belong at the top of the division with the best guys that the division has to offer.”

Emmett (17-2) is ranked No 7 and has put together a four-fight win streak, most recently defeating Dan Ige via unanimous decision at UFC 269 in December 2021. ‘The Fighting Falmer’ has also got the better of Michael Johnson, Mirsad Bektic and Shane Burgos in his winning sequence, which includes a major knee injury and recovery from it.

“I feel like with everything, whether you win, you lose, you learn from them. When you get into a tough fight and you injure yourself, you learn a lot about yourself, whether you have to dig down deep and you're tired or you're injured, and same thing with this,” said Emmett.

“This is a major injury. I've had a lot of injuries and this has to be… at the top of the list. But I have learned a lot about myself. It's just patience and I've gotten better in different areas of my game. I've strengthened other things that I needed to work on.”

The winner of this clash is likely to become a future contender for featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, who defeated Chan Sung Jung in April and is set to face long-time rival Max Holloway at UFC 276 in July.

The main card also features a rescheduled lightweight clash between Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon; Kevin Holland v Tim Means in the welterweight division; a middleweight battle between Joaquin Buckley and Albert Duraev; Damir Ismagulov v Guram Kutateladze in the lightweight division; and a middleweight opener between Julian Marquez and Gregory Rodrigues.

UFC Fight Night: Kattar v Emmett – Main card

- Main event: Featherweight: Calvin Kattar v Josh Emmett

- Lightweight: Donald Cerrone v Joe Lauzon

- Welterweight: Kevin Holland v Tim Means

- Middleweight: Joaquin Buckley v Albert Duraev

- Lightweight: Damir Ismagulov v Guram Kutateladze

- Middleweight: Julian Marquez v Gregory Rodrigues