Calvin Kattar entering UFC Fight Night 251 without feeling pressure of three-fight losing skid

LAS VEGAS – Calvin Kattar may be in the midst of the worst stretch of his professional MMA career, but it makes no difference to him.

Kattar (23-8 MMA, 7-6 UFC) returns to action in the featherweight co-feature of UFC Fight Night 251 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, where he will look to end a three-fight losing skid. Standing in his way will be Youssef Zalal, who has won three straight since rejoining the UFC last year.

Despite his recent stretch, Kattar enters this fight confident, and isn’t dwelling on the outcomes of the fights against Josh Emmett, Arnold Allen and Aljamain Sterling.

“Definitely not the way we want things going,” Kattar told reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “I mean, I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I thought I won that first fight of the three with Emmett. Then the way things worked with Allen with the knee, just unfortunate. I feel like that fight didn’t even happen. Lost a fight to a former champ, and all of a sudden here we are, 0-3, you know?

“Not the way you want to write it up, but it’s dangerous kind of focusing too much behind you and too far ahead of you. Right now, we got Youssel Zalal on Saturday. Tough opponent, four-fight win streak – that’s not easy to do in the UFC. Definitely deserving of a top 10, top 15 challenge, and I’m ready to go out and give him a fight come Saturday night.”

Kattar’s last victory came by way of unanimous decision over Giga Chikadze in January 2022. He was an underdog at the betting window for that matchup, and is in the same position against Zalal (16-5-1 MMA, 6-3-1 UFC), albiet at a much larger number.

For Kattar, this fight is about proving he belongs among the top 145-pound fighters in the world, and doesn’t care if he has to fight someone further down the ladder to re-establish himself.

“I don’t give a f*ck about that,” Kattar said. “… Because everybody’s tough. I just don’t care either way. A fight’s a fight, you know? I don’t care who it is, who it’s against. Give me some time for it, I’ll be happy for that. It doesn’t always happen, but for this one we got time.

“I’m not getting any younger, and it’s about testing myself and proving to myself that I belong in the top of the divison. These guys are just an opportunity for me to do that. I don’t care who it is, kind of where they stack up – I let the manager kind of deal with all of that sh*t. I just focus on beating the guy in front of me every time.”