UFC President Dana White thinks the public counted out Calvin Kattar ahead of his main event bout against Giga Chikadze.
Kattar walked away with a unanimous decision win over Chikadze on Saturday night, clearing scorecards after a brawl against a fellow ranked featherweight. The win saw him emerge as the better striker, hurting Chikadze with a high volume of shots.
This impressive showing from Kattar came after a week where Chikadze was viewed by many as the expected winner. He was even in discussion to step in on short notice to replace Max Holloway in a title fight against Alexander Volkanovski.
White feels that people didn’t give Kattar enough of a chance before the fight. He discussed how we have seen Kattar’s toughness in his previous appearance and how he has proven himself before.
“It’s almost like everybody forgot about Calvin Kattar and [his fight against] Max Holloway. Everybody counted him out tonight. I thought that the spinning elbow he landed changed the fight. I think that first round wrestling tired them out,” said White, speaking at the post-fight press conference on Saturday.
“They just dug in and went to war … [Kattar] kept constant pressure on him. He stayed in his face. He kept him moving backwards. It looked like Giga was out of it halfway through the second round.”
White: Kattar’s Layoff Helped Him
The win on Saturday night was Kattar’s first appearance in nearly a year. He was fighting for the first time in 364 days, appearing for the first time since he was on the losing side of a dominant performance by Max Holloway.
White thought the extensive break for Kattar worked in his favor because of how his last fight went.
“I think after that fight he had with Max [Holloway], you gotta take a year off. I think you have to … He absolutely, positively needed to take that time off,” said White.
Do you feel people counted out Calvin Kattar?