Josh Emmett beats Calvin Kattar via split decision in the main event of UFC Austin. After a five-round war, two judges scored it for Emmett (48-47, 48-47) and the other gave the fight to Calvin Kattar (48-47).
Hailing from Boston Massachusetts, Calvin Kattar was coming off a win over Giga Chikadze on January 16th of this year. Kattar was almost on the cusp of a title shot in 2021 as he took on Max Holloway.
But the bout went horribly for him as Max dished out a historic amount of punishment on Calvin. But he did not let that break his spirit and managed to have a great turnaround against Chikadze.
Josh Emmett, on the other hand, only came back recently after suffering some serious damage to his knees during the bout against Shane Burgos in 2020. After almost one and a half years later, he fought Dan Ige in a 3 round fight which ended in a unanimous decision victory for Emmett.
Two contenders ready to add to the fun! 💥 #UFCAustin pic.twitter.com/SsdVzoCFvz
— UFC (@ufc) June 18, 2022
The winner of this particular fight has an opportunity to get a championship opportunity next. The UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski has defeated almost all the high-ranked fighters in the division.
Hence, the winner of this bout would make for a fresh and exciting match-up for Volkanovski. Hence, this was a potential no. 1 title contender fight. So how did the bout go? Let’s find out.
Josh Emmett beats Calvin Kattar via a split decision
Round 1 between the two was pretty uneventful until the very last seconds of the round. Josh Emmett tried to shoot in for a takedown, but Calvin successfully stuffed it. Kattar also landed a jab that opened up a cut over Josh’s eye.
Round 2 was much better for Emmett as he pushed the pace and backed Kattar up multiple times in the round. Emmett’s cage control in the second round was significant and his power punches gave Calvin a lot of trouble.
The story was the same the round 3 as well. Calvin Kattar was primarily waiting for Josh Emmett to lunge forward in order to be the counter puncher. But Josh was exceptional with his movement. He was never static enough to allow Kattar to find his rhythm and string up a flurry of offence. Although Calvin landed a few nice uppercuts and jabs, it was nothing significant in comparison to Josh’s volume and power punching.
Calvin’s corner was pretty adamant about him having to be on the front foot in round 4. But it seemed as if Calvin could not get a read of Josh Emmett’s movement. However, he did not rush unnecessarily. Calvin waited for his chance and it came at the very last minute of the round. A spinning elbow from Kattar almost put Josh Emmett out on his feet. It was the most significant moment of the fight up until that point.
Razor-thin heading into RD 5! 😬 #UFCAustin pic.twitter.com/m2iOO4BxMG
— UFC (@ufc) June 19, 2022
The round ended with Calvin and Josh getting heated up and staring each other down even after the belt. But surprisingly neither fighter showed urgency in the opening minutes of the round. Emmett blitzed forward a bunch of times and Kattar landed a few well-timed counterstrikes. But the last minute of the round was the most entertaining portion of the fight as both Kattar and Emmett started swinging for the fences and threw caution to the wind.
By SD, @JoshEmmettUFC seals the deal after 5️⃣! #UFCAustin pic.twitter.com/LHHJC2QjAl
— UFC (@ufc) June 19, 2022
The two judges scored it for Josh Emmett and one scored it for Calvin Kattar. After the win, he called for the winner of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway 3 at UFC 276.
