It’s especially exciting for the 31-year-old Kattar, who is back in a big fight a little over a year after the lone loss of his UFC career to Renato Moicano in April of 2018. It’s the beauty of the UFC that if you take tough fights night after night, a loss won’t necessarily hurt you as much as it would in a sport like boxing. Look at Moicano, who followed up a defeat to Brian Ortega with the win over Kattar. Two fights later, the Brazilian was in with Jose Aldo, and even though he came up short in that one, he’s got a headlining gig against Chan Sung Jung later this month. And here comes Calvin.
“MMA is funny like that,” he said. “Look where Moicano was after his Ortega loss and look where he’s at now. He’s fighting the Zombie next, he’s headlining the card and he’s guy I competed with, so it’s nice to be in the mix with him being in the top 15 and (Shane) Burgos being in the top 15. It shows that I might have these options around the corner too if I keep doing what I gotta do.
“I like the mix of names that I’m getting because they’re all on that top 15 list, so it’s nice to be mentioned with all them as options,” Kattar continues. “It’s nice, it’s good to have the opportunities that are being thrown at me that I’m accepting, and since I’ve been here I haven’t turned one down yet. I’m sticking with that and working my way to the top just like everybody else.”
