Exclusive | Calvin Kattar questions whether Arnold Allen can compete with top 5 caliber opposition: “We’re gonna see how he handles it”

Calvin KattarCalvin Kattar is set to face off against surging British star Arnold Allen in the main event of a UFC Fight Night in the near future. Kattar recently spoke with LowKickMMA in an exclusive interview, where he gave his thoughts on Allen. Whilst ‘The Boston Finisher’ clearly has respect for the Brit, he does also […]

Calvin Kattar

Calvin Kattar is set to face off against surging British star Arnold Allen in the main event of a UFC Fight Night in the near future.

Kattar recently spoke with LowKickMMA in an exclusive interview, where he gave his thoughts on Allen. Whilst ‘The Boston Finisher’ clearly has respect for the Brit, he does also raise the point that Allen is yet to face off against a true top 5 featherweight.

“This kids on the way up,” states Kattar. “He’s like 8-0, something like that. Climbing the rankings. Doing what he’s gotta do. And to me it’s just another target moving in my direction… They’re all just opposition and an opportunity for me to go out there and prove why I’m one of the best in the world, and change my life with another win.”

“If your able to go 9-0 in the UFC it’s impressive. That being said, I don’t know if he’s ever fought anybody like myself or of that top-five caliber. We’re gonna see how he handles it.”

Calvin Kattar on Arnold Allen’s win over Dan Hooker

Arnold Allen’s biggest win to date is his recent victory over Dan ‘The Hangman’ Hooker, who had made the move down to 145lbs in an attempt to make a run at the title. Allen would stop Hooker in his tracks, knocking the CKB fighter out in the first round.

Calvin Kattar had the following to say about Allen’s win over Hooker:

“Congratulations. It’s a big W. Probably his biggest win to date, like you said. I mean, other than that, I didn’t really think much about it. Good job. There are so many other guys coming up in the rankings, he’s not the only undefeated guy coming up. There’s a few of them. And I’m not really looking behind me as much as I am in front of me. So, it’s kinda like, I think I’m gonna fight all of these guys eventually. In what order, I don’t know.

Calvin Kattar reacts to taking the Allen fight on 6 weeks’ notice

Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen will take place on Oct. 29, a mere six weeks away. Whilst the likes of Kevin Holland may scoff at the idea of this being a short-notice fight, one should bare in mind that this is a top-five fight with potential title ramifications for both men. Kattar discussed how this shorter style fight camp has become the new standard for UFC fights, with his recent main event clash against Josh Emmett having a similar 7-week notice. He does also note that it is not necessarily a negative change:

“(Josh) Emmett was seven weeks. It seems to be the new norm here in the UFC, these quick camps. There are pros and cons to everything. The Giga (Chikadze) camp was 14 weeks, that was forever, it felt like. That sucked in itself. Even though you have all the time in the world, that sucked too you know. As good as it was, it was a long camp. I got covid twice during that camp. That’s how long it was.”

How do you see Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen playing out?

Arnold Allen vs. Calvin Kattar Targeted For Oct. 29 Fight Night

A featherweight showdown between top contenders Arnold Allen and Calvin Kattar is in the works to headline an October 29th UFC Fight Night. The news of the Allen/Kattar targeted booking was first reported by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Allen has surged…

A featherweight showdown between top contenders Arnold Allen and Calvin Kattar is in the works to headline an October 29th UFC Fight Night. The news of the Allen/Kattar targeted booking was first reported by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Allen has surged into the featherweight title picture with 11 straight victories. He made his UFC debut in…

Continue Reading Arnold Allen vs. Calvin Kattar Targeted For Oct. 29 Fight Night at MMA News.

Arnold Allen vs. Calvin Kattar Targeted For Oct. 29 Fight Night

A featherweight showdown between top contenders Arnold Allen and Calvin Kattar is in the works to headline an October 29th UFC Fight Night. The news of the Allen/Kattar targeted booking was first reported by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Allen has surged…

A featherweight showdown between top contenders Arnold Allen and Calvin Kattar is in the works to headline an October 29th UFC Fight Night. The news of the Allen/Kattar targeted booking was first reported by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto. Allen has surged into the featherweight title picture with 11 straight victories. He made his UFC debut in…

Continue Reading Arnold Allen vs. Calvin Kattar Targeted For Oct. 29 Fight Night at MMA News.

Report – Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen targeted to headline UFC Vegas 63 on October 29.

Calvin KattarA high-stakes featherweight main event between New England Cartel staple, Calvin Kattar, and the surging Ipswitch native, Arnold Allen is currently in the works to take main event honors at a UFC Vegas 63 event on October 29. from the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada. Set to headline for the fifth occasion under […]

Calvin Kattar

A high-stakes featherweight main event between New England Cartel staple, Calvin Kattar, and the surging Ipswitch native, Arnold Allen is currently in the works to take main event honors at a UFC Vegas 63 event on October 29. from the UFC Apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Set to headline for the fifth occasion under the UFC banner, Kattar, the current #5 ranked featherweight contender, last featured in the main event of UFC Austin back in June, turning in a Fight of the Night performance in an eventual split decision loss to Josh Emmett. 

Undefeated in his nine-fight Octagon tenure, #6 rated challenger, Allen featured most recently at UFC London back in March, earning a Performance of the Night bonus with a first round knockout win over Dan Hooker. ESPN MMA reporter, Brett Okamoto was first to report the news of Kattar’s return against Allen as per UFC president, Dana White.

“Big one at featherweight in the works… No. 5 Calvin Kattar (@CalvinKattar) vs. No. 6 Arnold Allen (@Arnoldbfa) will headline UFC Fight Night on Oct. 29, per Dana White,” Okamoto tweeted. “Should be official shortly. Action fight.” 

Calvin Kattar landed a standout win over Giga Chikadze earlier this year

23-6 as a professional, returning to the Octagon back in January after a year layoff, Kattar turned in a one-sided unanimous decision triumph over Georgian striker, Giga Chikadze at the UFC Apex facility.

3-2 in his last five Octagon appearances, Calvin Kattar’s sole other loss in that period came in the form of a unanimous decision loss against former featherweight champion, Max Holloway. 

Landing seven Octagon victories, Kattar has defeated Andre Fili, Shane Burgos, Chris Fishgold, Ricardo Lamas, Jeremy Stephens, and Dan Ige to go with his win against Chikadze.

A former Cage Warriors contender, Allen, who landed in the UFC back in June 2015 at a UFC event in Berlin, Germany – has enjoyed a purple patch in his featherweight tenure, improving his professional record to 19-1 with his March knockout of Hooker. 

In other eye-catching UFC wins, Allen defeated Mads Burnell, Jordan Rinaldi, Gilbert Melendez, Nik Lentz, and Sodiq Yusuff.

Manager eyes ‘fun’ Calvin Kattar, ‘Korean Zombie’ fight, dismisses ‘frustrating’ Arnold Allen booking

Calvin KattarNew England Cartel leader and manager, Tyson Chartier has fielded a potential fight between his student and client, Calvin Kattar, and two-time division title challenger, Chan Sung Jung next – claiming that he has become frustrated attempting to find Kattar a bout against the surging, Arnold Allen. Kattar, the current #5 ranked featherweight contender, was […]

Calvin Kattar

New England Cartel leader and manager, Tyson Chartier has fielded a potential fight between his student and client, Calvin Kattar, and two-time division title challenger, Chan Sung Jung next – claiming that he has become frustrated attempting to find Kattar a bout against the surging, Arnold Allen.

Kattar, the current #5 ranked featherweight contender, was defeated last time out in the main event of UFC Austin back in June, battling over the course of five rounds in a close split decision loss against Josh Emmett. The ‘Lone Star State’ main event earned both Kattar and Emmett a Fight of the Night bonus.

As for Jung, the faltering veteran suffered a hugely one-sided, eventual fourth round knockout loss to featherweight champion, Alexander Volkanovski back in April in the main event of UFC 273. And has noted his interest in one final outing in his native South Korea before a career swansong. 

Speaking on some movement on his client, Kattar’s next fight, Chartier floated a potential matchup against Jung – which he described as “fun”, as well as claiming fight negotiations with Ipswitch technician, Allen were becoming more and more “frustrating”.

“The ‘Zombie’ fight is fun,” Tyson Chartier told MMA Junkie during a recent interview. “They’re both (Calvin Kattar and Chan Sung Jung) coming off losses. He’s already been resting a little bit. We probably don’t need as long of a rest, so I think the timeline matches up. Arnold Allen is not even worth trying to book.”

“We’ve been offered him before, we accepted, it was a frustrating fight to try to book. It seems like he’s (Arnold Allen) always either injured or wants to go on vacation or a concert with his girlfriend, or I don’t know. But he called us out and we said yes, we’ll fight you in 10 weeks, and he said, ‘Well, that’s not long enough.’” 

“So we want to fight real fighters,” Tyson Chartier said of Calvin Kattar’s future. “I’m not saying he’s (Allen) not a real fighter, but if you can’t be ready to fight in 10 weeks coming off a win, then maybe you’re in the wrong sport. I don’t know. It’s frustrating.”

“So, yeah, we’ll see. I think the ‘Zombie’ fight makes a lot of sense. I think it’s a fun fight, he’s a banger, he’ll probably try and wrestle us a little bit. Calvin has shown that he has good takedown defense, so then that means it turns into a nice Calvin Kattar fight.” 

Calvin Kattar returned triumphantly back in January in a dominant win

At the beginning of the year, Kattar returned from a lengthy sidelining to turn in a vintage striking display en route to a one-sided unanimous decision battering of Georgian kickboxer, Giga Chikadze – returning him to the winner’s enclosure.

Chikadze Reveals His One Regret From Loss To Kattar

UFC featherweight contender Giga Chikadze has looked back on his January loss to Calvin Kattar and revealed one major regret. In the very first event of 2022, 145-pound elites Chikadze and Kattar battle it out for a place in the title picture. For the …

UFC featherweight contender Giga Chikadze has looked back on his January loss to Calvin Kattar and revealed one major regret. In the very first event of 2022, 145-pound elites Chikadze and Kattar battle it out for a place in the title picture. For the Georgian, the bout marked his eighth UFC contest and second consecutive…

Continue Reading Chikadze Reveals His One Regret From Loss To Kattar at MMA News.