A new featherweight title contender will emerge Wednesday night on “Fight Island.”
Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige meet in the main event of UFC Fight Night in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The card is the second of four consecutive events the UFC has scheduled for Yas Island, which has been dubbed “Fight Island.” The venue will be the recently constructed Flash Forum, inside a safe zone where everyone has been tested multiple times for COVID-19.
Kattar (21-4) comes in as ESPN’s No. 8-ranked featherweight. The Massachusetts native stopped divisional stalwart Jeremy Stephens by second-round TKO (elbow) at UFC 249 on May 9. Kattar, 32, has won three of his last four and five of his last seven fights.
Ige (14-2) is perhaps the hottest fighter in the division not named Alexander Volkanovski, who is the champion. The Hawaii native has won six straight and has not lost since his UFC debut in 2018 to Julio Arce. Ige, 28, is coming off a split decision win over Edson Barboza in May.
“A win over Dan Ige puts me one step closer to ultimately becoming champion of the UFC in the featherweight division,” Kattar said. “That’s my goal, to bring that belt back home to Boston.”
In the co-main event, Tim Elliott and Ryan Benoit will try to get back to winning ways in the flyweight division. The always exciting Elliott (15-11-1) has dropped three straight. Benoit (10-6) is coming off a split decision loss to Alateng Heili in what was Benoit’s first fight in more than two years.
Also on the card, contenders Jimmie Rivera and Cody Stamann will meet in a featherweight bout, though both fight primarily at bantamweight. Plus, exciting heavyweight Todd Duffee fights for just the second time since 2015 and welterweight prospect Abdul Razak Alhassan returns after nearly two years away following his acquittal in a sexual assault case.
Fight in progress:
Men’s bantamweight: Jack Shore (12-0, 1-0 UFC, -700) vs. Aaron Phillips (12-3, 0-2 UFC, +500)
Still to come:
Men’s featherweight: Calvin Kattar (21-4, 5-2 UFC, -280) vs. Dan Ige (14-2, 6-1 UFC, +240)
Men’s flyweight: Tim Elliott (16-11-1, 4-9 UFC, -145) vs. Ryan Benoit (10-6, 3-4 UFC, +125)
Men’s featherweight: Jimmie Rivera (22-4, 6-3 UFC, -145) vs. Cody Stamann (19-2-1, 5-1-1 UFC, +125)
Women’s flyweight: Molly McCann (10-2, 3-1 UFC, -140) vs. Taila Santos (15-1, 0-1 UFC, +120)
Welterweight: Abdul Razak Alhassan (10-1, 4-1 UFC, -300) vs. Mounir Lazzez (9-1, 0-0 UFC, +260)
Middleweight: John Phillips (22-9, 1-3 UFC, +280) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (6-0, 0-0 UFC, -340)
Men’s featherweight: Ricardo Ramos (14-2, 5-1 UFC, -160) vs. Lerone Murphy (8-0-1, 0-0-1 UFC, +140)
Light heavyweight: Modestas Bukauskas (10-2, 0-0 UFC, -170) vs. Andreas Michailidis (12-3, 0-0 UFC, +150)
Men’s featherweight: Chris Fishgold (18-3-1, 1-2 UFC, +120) vs. Jared Gordon (15-4, 3-3 UFC, -140)
Women’s flyweight: Diana Belbita (13-5, 0-1 UFC, -190) vs. Liana Jojua (7-3, 0-1 UFC, +170)