The battle between two top 10 UFC featherweight fighters kicks off this Wednesday. Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige are about to clash in a match, which could lead one of them all the way up to the title-eliminator battle. These two guys have been around for quite some time, but they never received a chance for some big fight, which might catapult them into the top echelon of the UFC organization. Many believe that this event could be the turning point of their careers. A win here would guarantee at least one spectacular fight, meaning that they would finally get that chance for doing something big.
Preview
Calvin Kattar (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) holds the jiu-jitsu blue belt, and is besides that a solid wrestler whose tactical knowledge inside the octagon is pretty solid. Since coming to the UFC he posted five wins and two losses. The last fight he had was against Jeremy Stephens, which he won after a series of strong elbows in the second round. It was a bounce-back victory after his loss to Zabit Magomedsharipov, which took place in November last year. Back then, all three judges scored in favor of the Russian.
Kattar’s second loss in the UFC also came via unanimous decision, against Renato Moicano, at the UFC 223, and overall he never suffered a defeat via knockout. On the other side, he just once didn’t finish the UFC fight, and that was on his debut against Andre Fili.
It is also worth mentioning that he has two Fight of the Night performances, one against Magomedsharipov and the second once he knocked out Shane Burgos at the UFC 220.
As we said he is a calm and calculated fighter who has solid KO power in his fists. What could be a problem is the fact that he fought two months ago, and some say that Kattar rushed into another challenge too early.
Dan Ige (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) is the guy who had sic straight wins, after his initial loss in the UFC opener against Julio Arce. Though the last two were both via split decisions, but against the excellent fighter. He, too had a contest recently, at the UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs. Harris, and that is when he defeated Edson Barboza. Just three months prior that Ige posted a win over Mirsad Bektic, also via split decision.
We need to point out that both of these fights were pretty close, and that even if the dynamite as the fans call him, didn’t deserve to win according to some, he definitely didn’t deserve to lose either.
He has a very strong chin able to absorb massive hits, and both of his losses so far came via decision. Ige has a black belt in jiu-jitsu, and also has solid judo power. What separates him from other fighters is his aggressiveness in the octagon, as he often tries to dictate the tempo.
Prediction
This promises to be a really exciting fight between two guys who are able to give and take hits and go to distance in that mode. It is no wonder why Dana White picked this battle for the headliner of the event.
We are backing up Ige in this contest even though he is a massive underdog. He too had too many challenges over the recent several months, but our gut tells us that Dynamite has everything that takes to make massive surprise. The odds on him are 2.13, at BetXChange.
