It has been a tough year and a half for Calvin ‘The Boston Finisher’ Kattar.
The last time Kattar made the walk was back in October 2022, against Arnold Allen. With 25 seconds left in the first round, Kattar threw a flying knee attempt and upon landing, his right leg seemed to buckle underneath him. The gritty Featherweight made it out of the round but just 8 seconds into the second round and his knee totally gave out from underneath him.
After many months of recovery, the 36-year-old will eventually make the walk again, on the monumental UFC 300 card , which goes down this Saturday (April 13).
As many would expect, the physical side of the injury naturally caused problems, but Kattar admitted that the mental aspect of being so long away from training and competition definitely took its toll. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Kattar disclosed how he coped during his time off. He said:
“It's a good question. Honestly, when you said mentally, where was I?
“Because that's what it is. The long layoff, it's a big mental game and unfortunately, but fortunately for me, I had Rob go through it not long ago and he was able to kind of give me some advice going through it and help prepare me for that moment and yeah, all I could do is just focus on recovery. My life then became recovery for the last year and some change.
“Every day I felt like I was laying good brick, just trying to be as healthy as possible for, like I said, the inevitable return. I knew I was going to be back in here one day and the more I focused on recovery, the sooner it would be and the more ready I would be.”
In his return, Kattar will welcome former Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling to the 145lbs division. ‘The Boston Finisher’ is unphased by Sterling’s credentials but is happy to be facing a tough opponent in his return from injury and is looking to make the most of the opportunity.
“Not much to be honest, a little bit in the fact that, yeah, he's a former champ.
“You know, that's great. And you need you need tough opposition to get these big, bold opportunities. So, you know, and shoutout to him for making this fight happen on such a historic night, I'm blessed. Honored. But it'd be the same as fighting anybody. The next fight is always the biggest, no matter who's against. And I really didn't put too much stock in who I'm fighting.”
With the injury behind him and his return just days away, Katter is ecstatic to be back and ready to put on a show in front of a packed out T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.
“I've had that rollercoaster ride of emotions but man, I'm feeling mentally strong now that I got this opportunity to get back in and I'm ready to go deliver a performance worthy of such a historic card.”
You can watch the full interview, below:
