It was five and five shots to Calvin Kattar’s camp following “The Boston Finisher” unanimous decision victory over fellow featherweight contender Dan Ige, a grueling five-round war atop the “Fight Island” undercard. “Last night (July 15) on ESPN in Abu Dhabi.
Victory may not have a major impact on the current 145-pound ranking. Partly because Ige was sitting at number 10, four points below Kattar, but mainly because the Top 5 is full of established veterans like Brian Ortega and Chan Sung Jung, to name a few.
But one thing they don’t have is Kattar’s drive.
“I go out there, I fight and I try to win every opportunity in front of me,” Kattar said after the fight. “The champion should see that. He says he wants contenders. You won’t find a smarter one than me. I think it would be a good opportunity to go out there and compete against him. I proved that I can go five rounds. Who is my competition? No one has been busy in 2020. I think I am doing well competing, winning opportunities and I really can’t say much for everyone else in the division. “
Kattar (22-4) is 2-0 this year, she also beat Jeremy Stephens in May.
Damaging his chances of an immediate title shot is “The Boston Finisher” ‘s unanimous decision loss to Zabit Magomedsharipov, No. 2 last November. That said, a victory over anyone in the Top 5, including former champion Max Holloway, is likely to give Kattar the next shot at the featherweight crown.
As for champion Alexander Volkanovski, he finally got rid of “Blessed” with a second decision victory over the Hawaiian at UFC 251 earlier this month on PPV. It is not yet known when “The Great” will return, but surely there will be plenty of opponents waiting for it.
