Calvin Kattar feels he has a case for getting the next featherweight title shot.
Kattar came away with the unanimous decision victory after an impressive performance against Dan Ige in their UFC Fight Island 1 headliner on Wednesday.
It not only made it four wins in his last five outings, but also put him at 2-0 for 2020 which is more than can be said about the rest of the top 10 of the division.
Kattar For Next Title Shot?
Many feel “The Boston Finisher” is at most, one win away from getting a title shot, especially with the likes of Zabit Magomedsharipov, Korean Zombie, Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez all above him in the rankings.
However, none of those fighters have competed in 2020 while Zombie and Ortega have been beefing on social media instead of getting a fight signed.
So Kattar’s ideal is simple.
Instead of fighting all the contenders before anyone can deny him a title shot, campaign for the title shot instead.
“They’re inactive. The guys ahead of me are inactive,” Kattar said on The Luke Thomas Show recently. “None of them are competing. I’m the only fighter in the UFC to be 2-0 during this pandemic. Me and the champ, the only two fighters since 2019 to come away with top three, top 10 wins.
“As much as I’d like to take out all these contenders, basically, when I become champ, there’s nobody they can put in there with me that I haven’t already taken out — why not just go after the champ first and take them all on the way up? These guys are all sitting back Twitter beefing and I’m out here fighting and earning my opportunities. I respect the champ’s mindset — he wants to fight contenders and you’re not going to find one more ready than me right now.”
🔊"These guys are all sitting back Twitter beefing and I'm out here fighting and earning my opportunities." – @CalvinKattar explains why he's looking to skip the top five at featherweight and fight Alexander Volkanovski 👊#TLTS@lthomasnews pic.twitter.com/5jEK5zSted
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) July 17, 2020
Volkanovski was certainly watching Kattar’s win over Ige.
Good fight…High level!! #UFCFightIsland1
— Alex Volkanovski (@alexvolkanovski) July 16, 2020
And given his desire of wanting to clean out the division rather than chase super fights, Kattar getting a title shot could actually be a possibility.
