UFC Fight Island 7 was an opportunity for Calvin Kattar (22-5) to have a big coming out party on the biggest of stages. The promotion was making their debut on ABC and Kattar was in the main event against former featherweight champion, Max Holloway (22-6).
Kattar is known for his incredibly crisp boxing and he talked a lot about it during the leadup. Hell, even I said in my preview of UFC Fight Island 7 that Max Holloway would need to mix it up a lot in order to win. I wasn’t sure how he would do in pure boxing with Kattar.
Well, there’s not an aspect of striking where Max Holloway didn’t dominate at UFC Fight Island 7. This fight was supposed to be very close on paper, however, Max Holloway simply showed the world that there are levels to this.
Calvin Kattar was completely dismantled over five rounds by the former champion. Kattar landed some good shots here and there, but at the end of the day, this was an extremely one-sided beating by Max Holloway.
To give you an idea of how lopsided it was, think about this. Holloway landed a UFC record 445 significant strikes. Calvin Kattar only landed 133. Holloway landed 312 more significant strikes and the scorecards read 50-43, 50-43, 50-42.
What’s next after UFC Fight Island 7
Let me just say this, Calvin Kattar is still one of the better featherweights in the UFC. You can’t just have the 2020 that he had without being near the top of the division. However, Max Holloway showed us that Kattar has a long ways to go.
I think it’s going to take some time before we see Kattar again in the UFC. With the beating he took, he’s going to need some time to recover and regroup. Considering his place in the division and who he’s already faced, I think there are a couple of options for his return.
One of the options I really like is a fight between him and Josh Emmett (16-2). Emmett is one of the most powerful strikers in the UFC’s featherweight division. He’s also riding a three-fight winning streak. However, he’s recovering from knee surgery.
As of now, there’s no real timeline for his return, but I think him and Kattar would match up well. Another option would be Sodiq Yusuff (11-1) who’s currently ranked tenth in the featherweight division.
Yusuff is unbeaten in the UFC and that would be another fun matchup for Kattar upon his return. Calvin Kattar is still going to be a factor at 145, but yesterday was a harsh dose of reality in that he’s not quite ready for the very best.