MMA
Calvin Kattar uses people overlooking him as motivation ahead of Max Holloway fight
A casual mixed martial arts fan could potentially look at a fighter who possesses an overall record of 22-4, is 6-2 in the UFC with victories over former featherweight title challenger Ricardo Lamas along with fellow 145-pound contenders Jeremy Stephens, Dan Ige, Shane Burgos, and Andre Fili, and heading into his third main event contest in last four fights Saturday, and think that Calvin Kattar is one of the best in the world.
The chatter though heading into Kattar's bout against Max Holloway, is centered on why the former featherweight champion isn't facing current titleholder Alexander Volkanovski in a trilogy fight instead of the attention being on the fact that the winner between two guys in the top six will be granted a title shot against the winner of Volkanovski and Brian Ortega sometime in 2021.
It's nothing new for Kattar. He's used to people overlooking him.
"I prefer it," Kattar told DAZN News. "I like the underdog role. I've been overlooked my whole career. I've been the underdog for most of my career. I've been counted out more times than I can count."
Kattar had started to make a name himself, going into his bout with Lamas at UFC 238. At the time, Kattar was 3-1 inside the Octagon with two stoppage victories. Lamas would be the biggest name to date. A win over someone with the resume of Lamas would vault Katter into the conversation of top contenders.
A couple of days before each show, the UFC conducts a media day to promote the card. During fight week, he understood that Lamas would get the bulk of attention since the event was taking place in his native Chicago. What happened during Katter's availability session was something the 32-year-old has always kept in the back of his mind.
"I remember in Chicago, not one person, not one media member went up to me and said one question," Kattar said. "Then the next fight I'm the main event, and there's a huge line of people waiting in line to talk to me. So I appreciate those moments where I'm overlooked. For me, it was nice. I didn't have to work. I didn't have to do an interview.
"I'm like, 'This is great. Appreciate this moment because it's not going to always be like this'. Sure as s—t, the next fight, I'm in the main event. You just go find ways to get a chip on your shoulder to grow and help the cause to do what you got to do.
"I feel like I'm able to do that, especially through this pandemic. I think we're all able to, but we can't get we can't be overwhelmed with all the setbacks. We got to keep the vision forward and always march forward. Like, they say, 'Worst case fall forward. If you're going fail, fall forward'."
[DAZN EXCLUSIVE: Holloway on importance of family, not fighting for featherweight title]
Two days after the media snub, Kattar silenced the sold-out crowd at the United Center and the world by steamrolling Lamas with a first-round stoppage victory. Not only did Kattar think about that moment before he faced Lamas, but now he has it engrained into his mind and uses it as a source of motivation heading into every contest, including the Holloway fight.
"I use everything as fuel," Kattar admits. "I'm telling you, it could be the smallest thing to some people, but it'll be the biggest thing to me.
"I remember in that moment, we have a time-lapse of it actually of me just sitting there and every media member walking around, walking by me. I appreciate adversity. I appreciate setbacks. You grow in those moments.
"For me, I've always dug deep. I feel like my mentality sets me apart from these guys. I think I deal with setbacks better than them. What year has more setbacks than 2020?
"I feel like it's allowed the cream to rise to the top. It's afforded me the big opportunities that I now have in front of me."
