
Saturday night will see what’s expected to be a bruising encounter between Calvin Kattar and Arnold Allen as part of UFC Fight Night 213. It’s a replacement bout for the postponed fight between Ilia Topuria and Edson Barboza that was called off due to Barboza’s knee injury.
Other fights on the main card include Max Griffin versus Tim Means in the welterweight division, the heavyweight clash between Jared Vanderaa and Waldo Cortes-Acosta, a middleweight showdown between Josh Fremd and Tresean Gore, and finally the light heavyweight battle between Dustin Jacoby and Khalil Rountree Jr. The action takes place at the UPC Apex facility in Enterprise, just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.
The main event of UFC 213 will be the bout between Calvin Kattar and Arnold Allen. The featherweight showdown will give Kattar the perfect chance to show what he’s made of. After a decade of plying his trade on the regional scene, Kattar is finally starting to deliver on the hype. With a solid background in learning from professional boxers, he will be a great opponent for the heavy-hitting Allen.
Notable moments in Kattar’s career included a strong win over Andre Fili and an impressive third-round KO against Shane Burgos. Not that it’s all been easy for the US fighter as tough opponents like Zabit Magomedsharipov and Renato Carneiro gave him some major problems.
Thankfully, Kattar has shown plenty of resolve to overcome these setbacks. He was particularly impressive just a couple of years ago when he destroyed Jeremy Stephens and managed to get past Dan Ige.
As such, it’s hard to tell which Kattar we’ll see on Saturday night. He’ll be hoping for a better performance than his only bout of last year where he got obliterated by Max Holloway. Instead, fans will hope that Kattar manages to show some of the dexterity that earned him a well-fought victory over Giga Chikadze.
Above all, Kattar doesn’t seem to let defeats get him down. With controversy still settling over his relatively recent defeat by Josh Emmett, it’s expected that the Massachusetts native will get in early to counter Allen’s brutal attack.
Allen has already shown his worth and is the clear favourite to win this bout in the best odds for UFC fighting. While it’s the 28-year old’s first main UFC bout, he started off by making light work of fearsome opponents such as Alan Omer in the past and the British star has been making steady progress up the rankings.
Most MMA fans first got to know Allen in 2019 when he delivered an astonishing victory over Gilbert Melendez as part of UFC 239. From here, Allen has been building on his potential and this was realised when he got past Sodiq Yusuff in spring 2021. Earlier this year, Allen claimed an important win over Dan Hooker in London and it’s easy to see why he’s widely expected to beat Kattar.
Above all, it’s the fact that Allen is still undefeated in the UFC that means that most punters are backing him for the win. While he still has yet to become a truly big name in MMA, Allen has a much slicker boxing style than Kattar and his pure aggression should mean that he goes the distance.
Much depends on whether Kattar can last the opening couple of rounds against the heavy-hitting Allen, but the majority of UFC fans will be getting the best betting deals in 2022 and backing the British boxer to win this bout.
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