Tyson Chartier on Calvin Kattar: ‘He Is in a Good Place Mentally’

On Saturday, Calvin Kattar will make his Ultimate Fighting Championship return in the headline fight of UFC on ESPN 32. Kattar (22-5, 6-3 UFC) has been on the sidelines for a year after dropping a one-sided decision to former featherweight kingpin Max Holloway at UFC on ABC 1. In that fight, “Blessed” picked up 50-43, 50-43 and 50-42 nods from the judges after displaying boxing supremacy. A lesser man might not have endured five rounds with that version of Holloway, but Kattar bit down on his mouthpiece and survived to hear the judges’ decision. According to Kattar’s coach and manager Tyson Chartier, that fight didn’t affect the mentality of “The Boston Finisher,” who is ready to step in the Octagon again and show his worth against the streaking Gig Chikadze.

“I think there was a misconception among the media maybe that that fight shook his confidence or something like that, but he is still hungry,” Chartier said to Sherdog. “[That fight] showed him like, ‘Okay, I got to feel that level, now I gotta figure out how to get there.’ That’s what the whole last year has been about, resting and then trying to figure out how to get to that next level. He’s in a good place mentally, we had a great camp, I think 13 weeks, now we’re sitting like almost 14 weeks that we’ve been in camp, so [there was] plenty of time to prepare for Giga. It’s been good. I’ve seen [Calvin] improve tremendously both physically and mentally over those 14 weeks. It’s almost like the boys are back together. It’s been a year, I missed it, I’m happy to see him get to go out and compete next [Saturday].”

After the turmoil that involved the 145-pound division in the last few days following Holloway’s withdrawal from the championship trilogy clash with Alexander Volkanovski, Chartier explained that the UFC didn’t reach out to promote the Chikadze-Kattar affair as a title eliminator. He also discussed the camp they had for Chikadze and gave his prediction for the fight.

Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:00) Calvin’s mental and physical situation
(03:16) The adjustments they made after the Holloway fight
(04:10) Bringing Ross Levine to mimic Chikadze’s style
(05:25) His thoughts on the featherweight division’s situation
(06:45) Whether they pursue a title shot in case of victory
(08:27) Who should be fighting for the championship next
(10:18) His prediction for the fight
(10:59) Picking Francis Ngannou - Ciryl Gane
(11:35) Picking Brandon Moreno - Deiveson Figureido
(12:37) Outro

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and he now covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.