UFC featherweight Calvin Kattar isn’t a man who lets pressure get to him. 

Kattar’s UFC debut came against the experienced Andre Fili on a stacked UFC 214 fight card this past July, and despite taking the fight on short notice, the Massachusetts native took home a dominant unanimous decision. The win moved Kattar’s winning streak to nine and gave MMA fans a taste of what to expect from him inside the Octagon.

In his sophomore appearance, Kattar had the opportunity to accomplish one of his goals as a fighter: to compete in his hometown. A native of Boston, Kattar earned a spot on the main card of UFC 220 on Jan. 20 inside an arena packed with 16,015 roaring fans sitting cageside.

Kattar seized the moment by knocking out his previously unbeaten opponent, Shane Burgos, in the third round.

"Nothing can really prepare you for that," Kattar told FloCombat. "It's something you visualize when you're starting your career. You hope to one day feel that experience and to have that opportunity. And to get the finish that we did, I couldn't be happier with the results. 

"I put in a lot of hard work for that camp: it was a long one, it was 10 weeks. We visualized it every day, [and] it felt great that it actually went the way we planned."

While fighting in front of a hometown crowd represented a dream of his, Kattar felt the pros and cons of fighting in Boston. The packed crowd brought intensity like he’d never felt from an audience, but overall, he noted more positives than negatives in the experience. 

"I mean, there would be a lot more people there [at the TD Garden in Boston] but there's a lot of pros to it as well," Kattar said. "As far as not traveling to where it was, yeah, it builds up a little bit, but at the same time, it's not real pressure. We signed up for this. It's something that we're blessed to be able to do, and I think that was all in perspective, and [I] keep that in mind as a big advantage."

Going into the third round of his UFC 220 fight, many felt Kattar had lost the second round and the fight was tied 19-19, with the winner of the third round taking the fight. It wouldn't matter, though, as Kattar’s uppercut landed on Burgos’ chin and put to rest any need for judges.

"I'm just thinking, 'Hey, this kid is finding his rhythm a little bit,’ but I was listening to my corners [and] they were saying, 'You're going to have to go in and dig deep, this third round is going to take a lot of heart, go in get aggressive, make it a little messy,’” Kattar said. “And I ended up going into that third round and touching him up. I put the two behind the single jab that I'd been throwing all night and it landed. And then he started falling forward into me, and that's when I knew I had him a little bit off balance. 

"I ripped the uppercut and stayed on him from there, then the crowd erupted, and it was something special."

Currently 2-0 since joining the UFC, Kattar has been able to adjust to the level of competition rather quickly. He’s found patience to be the key.

"I think most of it is just not rushing my career," Kattar said. "I felt like I've been in this sport for a while, over a decade, just being patient with my shot and going out and focusing on being a better martial artist every fight. I feel like too many times these guys try to rush and get there and aren't really ready for that. I wanted to make sure when I got my call that I'd be ready to not only get there but to be able to hang there as well. 

“I feel like the time is now. I have a great team around me — Rob Font, Kyle Bochniak, I got Tyson Chartier as my manager. I'm still training at 617 Fight Sports, and I just feel like the timing of this all is coming at the right time, and I'm just happy to be part of the ride."

Kattar is now on a 10-fight winning streak, with his last loss coming in 2010. The streak is impressive, especially in a sport in which a loss can happen at any moment.

"I think just focusing on the opponent at hand [and] not setting goals too crazy or focusing on anybody but the opponent I have in front of me [has made the difference]," Kattar said. "He gets my full focus, and following that, hopefully, a good performance like we have envisioned, then we just gameplan and go from there.

“Each time I concentrate, I get my hand raised, that's the No. 1 thing. I know if I keep doing that, the opportunity is only going to get bigger [and] better. At this point now, where we stand coming off the biggest win of my career, I'm excited to see what's next."

Kattar doesn’t have an opponent in mind for his next scrap, but he does have an idea of when and where he wants to return.

"I'd say somewhere fighting domestic would be nice, looking at some cards now," Kattar said. "Vegas is definitely on the list. So any time around the bigger shows would be ideal. But we'll just see what opportunities present themselves. We never really know in this sport; things happen all the time and opportunities come and go.

“So I'm just going to look to stay ready and be ready for when my manager tells me we have something lined up that looks good and just be ready to go."

By Lucas Grandsire