5 Defining Moments: Calvin Kattar

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Calvin Kattar cannot afford another misstep in the ruthless Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight division.

“The Boston Finisher” will set out in search of his first win in more than three years when he confronts Steve Garcia in a featured UFC on ESPN 70 attraction this Saturday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Kattar, 37, enters the Octagon on a career-worst four-fight losing streak. He last saw action at UFC Fight Night 251, where he wound up on the wrong side of a unanimous decision against surging Factory X standout Youssef Zalal on Feb. 15.

As Kattar approaches his all-important showdown with Garcia at 145 pounds, a look at five of the many moments that have come to define him:

1. ‘Hurricane’ Warning

Kattar put away the previously unbeaten Shane Burgos with punches in the third round of their UFC 220 featherweight feature on Jan. 20, 2018 at TD Garden in Boston. The end came 32 seconds into Round 3. Kattar set the pace with a punishing jab throughout the first round, oftentimes doubling up on the punch. Burgos was undeterred and answered with heavy punching combinations upstairs, brutal shots to the body and strong inside leg kicks. At the start of the third round, the tide appeared to be shifting in his favor. However, Kattar wobbled the Team Tiger Schulmann standout with a fight-altering right cross. He followed with a pair of crushing right uppercuts and trailed the fallen Burgos to the mat, where a burst of rights and lefts prompted the stoppage.

2. An Ascending Contender

The Team Sityodtong product climbed another rung on the featherweight ladder when he cut down former title challenger Ricardo Lamas with first-round punches as part of the UFC 238 undercard on June 8, 2019 at the United Center in Chicago. Lamas bowed out 4:06 into Round 1. Operating in the shadows of the Henry Cejudo-Marlon Moraes main event, Kattar trapped “The Bully” on the feet, withstood a handful of leg and body kicks and slowly put his stamp on the fight. The Massachusetts, native staggered Lamas with a stiff jab, turned up the heat and floored him with an exquisite left hook-right cross combination. Kattar pursued his adversary to the canvas, let fly with punches and forced referee Dan Miragliotta to act. It was later revealed that Lamas has suffered multiple jaw fractures in defeat.

3. Broken Vessel

Kattar spent five excruciating rounds being systematically dismantled and figuratively dismembered by the former featherweight champion Max Holloway, who rolled to a one-sided unanimous decision in their UFC on ABC 1 headliner on Jan. 16, 2021 at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Scores were 50-43, 50-43 and 50-42 in what later emerged as the Sherdog.com “Beatdown of the Year.” Holloway landed no fewer than 56 strikes in any round, topping out at an almost unthinkable 141 in the fourth. By the time massacre was over, he had outlanded Kattar by a 445-133 margin in the significant strikes department. Stunning statistical data backed up his virtuoso performance, as Holloway established UFC single-fight records in eight different categories: striking differential (312), significant strikes landed (445), significant strikes attempted (744), distance strikes landed (439), significant head strikes landed (274), significant body strikes landed (117), total strikes landed (447) and total strikes attempted (746).

4. Back in the Saddle

The New England Cartel cornerstone carved up Giga Chikadze across five rounds and walked away with a clean-sweep unanimous decision in their UFC on ESPN 32 main event on Jan. 15, 2022 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. Scores were 50-45, 50-45 and 50-44—all for Kattar, who rebounded from his one-sided drubbing against the aforementioned Holloway a year prior. Chikadze conceded a takedown and spent much of the first round pinned to the canvas. His situation only deteriorated from there. Kattar applied maximum pressure, forced the Georgian onto his back foot and called upon every weapon in his vast arsenal, from a surgical jab and front kicks to the body to occasional knees and sweeping elbow strikes at close range. Chikadze responded in spurts and looked like a viable threat from beginning to end, but he could match neither Kattar’s output nor his determination. The Tyson Chartier protege emptied himself in the fifth round, where he slashed away at a battered and bloodied Chikadze with elbows from both sides. The Kings MMA rep ultimately collapsed under the final barrage and might have been the victim of a finish had the bell not sounded. The setback was Chikadze’s first since in almost four years and halted the Rafael Cordeiro disciple’s career-best nine-fight winning streak.

5. Tough Sledding

Former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling completely controlled and neutralized “The Boston Finisher” and made a successful move to 145 pounds with a one-sided unanimous decision in their three-round UFC 300 prelim on April 13, 2024 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges turned in 30-27 scorecards for Sterling. Kattar generated no meaningful offense in his first appearance since Oct. 29, 2022. Sterling left behind the bantamweight division he once ruled, completed takedowns in all three rounds, swamped the New England Cartel product with suffocating control and generally made life miserable for his increasingly frustrated adversary. Kattar’s face bore a look of resignation for much of the third round, as he was unable to counteract the Serra-Longo Fight Team star’s efforts.