Preview: UFC Nashville ‘Lewis vs. Teixeira’

Featherweights

Calvin Kattar (23-9, 7-7 UFC) vs. Steve Garcia (17-5, 6-2 UFC)

ODDS: Garcia (-120); Kattar (+100)

While the final three fights at UFC Nashville all feature aging former contenders against younger up-and-comers, Kattar probably has his back against the wall more than Derrick Lewis or Stephen Thompson, despite being a few years younger. “The Boston Finisher” entered the UFC to modest expectations eight years ago and quickly established himself as a slick striker, reliable action fighter and eventually a Top 10 featherweight. Kattar became known as one of the top boxers in the division—though Max Holloway put a definitive stop to any claims of being the best—and the kind of contender who could headline Fight Nights as the A-side.

Kattar appeared to be settling in as one of the better UFC featherweights of his era, but a few things have conspired to derail him over the past three years. One, the wins have stopped coming; two, one of his four straight losses was due to a serious knee injury; and three, the UFC has continued to match him extremely tough despite the ongoing streak of losses.

At his best, Kattar is still an outstanding boxer of the kind that can make other good strikers look flustered or amateurish, as he did to Giga Chikadze and Dan Ige a few years ago. His wrestling, a combination of solid takedown defense and underrated takedowns of his own, appears not to have been compromised too badly by the knee injury, but in his late 30s and facing the likes of Aljamain Sterling and Youssef Zalal, it is hard to tell. In addition, Kattar’s fan-friendly style means that he has absorbed an enormous amount of damage even by the standards of a 37-year-old with more than 30 career fights.

The good news for Kattar is that Garcia is less likely to test his takedown defense than any of his last three opponents. The bad news is that Garcia is going to try much, much harder to test his chin. “Mean Machine” has been a pleasant surprise since joining the UFC in 2020. Despite scoring a first-round finish on Dana White's Contender Series after which he was not immediately signed, the New Mexico native tracked more as a fun, entertaining mid-card guy than a future Top 15 featherweight.

However, after going 1-2 in his first three UFC bouts, Garcia has rattled off five straight wins, all by knockout inside of two rounds, all of them exceedingly violent. He now finds himself ranked, fighting in the feature bout against a foe with the kind of name value that can propel him into the title discussion

What changed for Garcia? Fighting in Bellator MMA and regional shows around the Southwest, he looked much like he does now: a very aggressive striker with power that belies his lanky frame, and a tendency to brawl and overswing that sometimes leaves him open for counter strikes and takedowns. Ironically, where many fighters shore up those kinds of weaknesses by fighting conservatively and trying to be more defensively sound once they reach the big time, Garcia has gotten meaner, if anything, trusting his power and durability to carry the day. For five straight fights and counting, it has worked like a charm.

That leads to Saturday and the Kattar matchup. Of the two most plausible scenarios, one involves Kattar putting on the proverbial “there are levels to his” performance in much the same way he did to Ige, whose aggressive tendencies on the feet are more than a little reminiscent of Garcia. The other involves Garcia’s rising confidence and Kattar’s gradually declining skills meeting somewhere in the middle, and Garcia’s right hand meeting Kattar’s chin—a few times, if necessary.

My podcast partner and I were split on this one, with him choosing the former option and me choosing the latter. The pick here is Garcia by KO in the second or third round, but the safest prediction is that if this thing goes past two minutes, it’s a likely frontrunner for “Fight of the Night” honors.



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Lewis vs. Teixeira
Thompson vs. Bonfim
Kattar vs. Garcia
Landwehr vs. Charriere
Petrino vs. Lane
Tafa vs. Tokkos
The Prelims