MMA Junkie analyst Dan Tom breaks down the UFC’s top bouts. Today, we look at the main event for UFC on ESPN 13.
UFC on ESPN 13 takes place Saturday at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The event airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
Calvin Kattar (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC)
Staple info:
- Height: 5’11” Age: 32 Weight: 145 lbs. Reach: 72″
- Last fight: Knockout win over Jeremy Stephens(May 9, 2020)
- Camp: New England Cartel (Massachussetts)
- Stance/striking style: Orthodox/kickboxing
- Risk management: Good
Supplemental info:
+ Regional MMA titles
+ Wrestling base
+ Brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt
+ 11 KO victories
+ 2 submission wins
+ 10 first-round finishes
+ KO Power
+ Good feints and footwork
+ Accurate shot selection
^ Works well off of left hand
+ Solid wrestling ability
^ Defensively and offensively
+ Shows serviceable grappling
^ Positional awareness and fundamentals
Dan Ige (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC)
Staple info:
- Height: 5’7″ Age: 28 Weight: 145 lbs. Reach: 71″
- Last fight: Decision win over Edson Barboza(May 16, 2020)
- Camp: Xtreme Couture (Las Vegas, NV)
- Stance/striking style: Orthodox/kickboxing
- Risk management: Good
Supplemental info:
+ Regional MMA titles
+ Wrestling base
+ Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt
+ Judo brown belt
+ 3 KO victories
+ 5 submission wins
+ 5 first-round finishes
+ Aggressive pace and pressure
+ Solid feints and footwork
+ Improved boxing ability
^ Variates well to the body
+ Strong inside the clinch
+ Scrambles and wrestles well
^ Works best from top position
Point of interest: Body blows and bodybags
The main event for UFC on ESPN 13 features a fun featherweight fight between two men who quietly go to the body in trying to take out their opposition.
An aggressive, forward fighter, Dan Ige embodies a lot of the hallmarks of a Hawaiian fighter.
Typically the shorter man, Ige does well when utilizing feints to help freeze up his opposition. In recent fights, Ige has done even better when pairing said fakes to his footwork, taking more advantageous angles to his approach.
Demonstrating a steadily improving boxing game, Ige can enter space with either hand, often slipping off of jabs while doing so. Once working his way inside the pocket, the 28-year-old talent stays poised as he looks to either change levels to the body or come up high with his patent heavy hooks.
Ige is also good about mixing in uppercuts into his repertoire, whether he is launching them from the clinch with a collar tie attached or using them in close while coming off an angle. And though his uppercuts and bodywork will likely serve him well against a fighter who has a propensity to shell, Ige’s stylings arguably open him up to similar weapons.
Enter Calvin Kattar.
Quietly crafting his tools in and out the regional scene for roughly a decade, Kattar steps in with some fundamentally sound striking and well-earned hype. Whether he is coming forward or sticking and moving, Kattar does a great job of keeping his feet underneath him, occasionally shifting stances when he finds his groove.
Typically working behind a high guard, Kattar maintains solid shoulder and head position, protecting his chin from the majority of hard punches that come his way. Kattar, who trains with a lot of pro boxers, also does well at diversifying his shot selection from a boxing perspective.
From slipping offline to changing his level, he offers options to both the body and the head. Wielding a stinging jab (both defensively and offensively), Kattar will either use it to disrupt his opponent’s striking rhythms or allow it to help set up punishing hooks and crosses once establishing his range.
Although there will only be an inch difference in reach on paper, Kattar will be the taller and longer party, as I see jabs layered with uppercut threats being some of the more reliable weapons for him in this fight. The New England native has also shown an improved defense and awareness to leg kicks in his last outing, but his borderline boxing-centric guard and stance can still offer targets of the level-changing variety.
Next point of interest: Shutting down the scrambling:
Point of interest: Shutting down the scrambling:
Considering where Ige tends to finish a lot of his fights, I will be curious to see how often he pursues the takedown in this matchup.
Coming from a wrestling and grappling base, Ige is not shy about going for takedowns when he needs to. The former Wartburg College wrestler has a solid level-changing shot in the open but does a lot of his best work in the clinch and along the fence.
Ige is definitely not beyond being taken down himself, but I suspect that comes from his scramble-heavy wrestling style, as well as the confidence he has in his grappling chops and ability to reverse position.
That said, Kattar – who also comes from a wrestling base – is not unfamiliar with opportunistic takedowns or the scrambling nature of wrestling warfare.
Not only does Kattar’s on-balance striking stance help keep him in position to defend takedowns (akin to Jorge Masvidal), but he also demonstrates a no-nonsense attitude toward scrambling when he does get taken down, quickly utilizing the fence or other wrestling style get-up tactics like turtling/tripoding up to his feet.
The potential problem with turtling or tripoding, however, is that it can often give way to back-takes or front-headlock opportunities – particularly in lower weight classes. And considering the acumen of Ige from both positions, I’ll be curious to see if Kattar is able to shut down scrambles before getting stuck in the proverbial quicksand.
Ige, who is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, can be a nightmare from top position, utilizing everything from wrist rides to hard strikes to secure his desired spots. Possessing incredibly heavy hips and crushing chokes, Ige is an undeniable problem if he is able to establish any sort of mounted position.
But as good as Ige is on top, he is not beyond succeeding to bottom position, which could be problematic against Kattar.
With his natural balance following him to the floor, Kattar demonstrates solid hip and hand positioning that helps him stay out of submissions and land quality ground strikes that Ige won’t be able to ignore should he end up underneath him. Regardless of who engages in the grappling first, shutting down the scramble will likely be the key objective for both parties.
Next point of interest: Odds, opinion and prediction
Point of interest: Odds and opinions
The oddsmakers and public seem to be siding with the man from Massachusetts, listing Kattar -290 and Ige +245 as of this writing.
Although my admitted bias will always have me rooting for Xtreme Couture fighters who are under the care of either Eric Nicksick or Dennis Davis, I have to do my best to be unbiased when it comes to breaking down fights for the masses.
Despite the fact that you could argue this fight is closer than the betting odds lead on, I can’t disagree with who is favored.
Regardless of how you scored Ige’s fight with Edson Barboza, the Hawaiian proved that he can both strike and hang with the big boys, as he absolutely deserves to be in the spotlight. And though I’ve backed Ige in every spot up until this point, I have a hard time denying that a fighter like Kattar – who has stellar boxing and good takedown defense – could be one of the hardest style matches for him at 145 pounds.
I wouldn’t put it past Ige and the smart team behind him to try and get the jump on their New England counterpart by mixing in hard leg kicks to his heavy-handed approach, but Kattar seems to have been shoring up that hole since his battle with Renato Moicano. For those reasons, the analyst in me will reluctantly be siding with Kattar in what I see being a five-round war, though my heart will admittedly be hoping Ige scores the upset.
Prediction: Kattar by decision
