Calvin Kattar is hoping the lessons learned from a lost opportunity in Russia bring him future success.
The Massachusetts native and No. 9-ranked UFC featherweight contender succumbed to up-and-coming Russian Zabit Magomedsharipov in Moscow back in October, but Kattar had a couple of takeaways as he prepares to take on Jeremy Stephens at UFC 249 on Saturday night in Jacksonville.
After a slow start in the first two rounds, Kattar landed more significant strikes than the Russian in the third round and two of the three judges gave “The Boston Finisher” the final frame. However, Kattar lost the fight via unanimous decision and he believes the outcome would’ve been different had he been more aggressive early on.
“(I need to) get a little busier, especially in a three-round fight,” Kattar said during UFC 249 media day. “That pace would’ve been all right for a five rounder, but in three rounds you have got to go out and get the job done early. I kind of played it a little too safe, feeling it out.”
The fight was the first time Kattar headlined a card in the UFC and he acknowledged he let a “big moment opportunity” slip away in Russia. But the whole experience made him hungrier.
“(The pressure) didn’t affect me. It wasn’t anything like that. No excuses on that end. It’s just that I want more. The whole process was nice and I can’t wait to earn myself more big moment opportunities and taking Jeremy Stephens down will get me one step closer.”
Kattar’s bout against the No. 7-ranked Stephens has been rescheduled twice. The featherweight fight was originally supposed to take place at UFC 248 in March, but was postponed due to an injury to Stephens. It was pushed back again after the original UFC 249, which was slated to take place in April, was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kattar has been training since January because of the two postponements, but he hasn’t let the length of the training camp get to his head.
“You can’t get high with the highs or low with the lows. I try to stay even-keeled, present in the moment, not focusing too far ahead in the future. If you do you get lost in the mix of, ‘March 7’, ‘April 18’ and now, ‘May 9.’ And right now even for this Saturday, I’m not even focused on that yet. I’ve got to make weight … So I literally try to live in the moment as much as possible and that’s an intentional mindset that I work on every day.”
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