UFC Fight Night preview Kattar vs Allen

UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Allen

By Michael Jones - @keepingitrealmma

& 

Dave Manley - @mmabobblehead

One fight to rule them all, one fight to sign them up. 

One fight to bring them all and in the darkness bind them... up?

            We may not be coerced into watching this entire card, but we for damn sure signed up to ESPN-plus so we may indulge in a fight of this caliber. If that means dragging ass through an under card fight or a prelim to get to the light that is Calvin Kattar vs. Arnold Allen, then so be it. We will walk through that darkness together, as friends. 

        1. Calvin Kattar (23-6) vs. Arnold Allen (18-1) 

            

            This is a very similar situation to last weekend's barn burners, where Beneil Dariush and Belal Muhammad had to fight the shooting star up and comer. The difference here might be that Arnold is just a bit more tested. That being said, this is last call, if you haven't been on board the Arnold Allen hype train then now is your last chance. He's been riding a 9 fight win streak since his 2015 UFC debut, before that, his singular professional loss was a close decision to a guy they call "The Polish Zombie". In his last outing he stream rolled lightweight veteran Dan Hooker, it only took beating a top 10 opponent from a weight division above to get some shine. Now he has an even more significant opportunity to demand his first ever title shot, but he must face the buzz saw that is Calvin Kattar. Coming off a very important fight in which he lost by controversial split decision, Kattar will be very motivated and hungry to get back on the winning track. 

            Despite 4 hiccups in his 11 fight UFC run, Kattar has nicely rounded out his game, utilizing well timed elbow strikes, decent takedown defense and a bottomless gas tank. A thorough dismantling of the hype train that is Giga Chikadze, established Kattar as a very formidable top 5 threat, especially bouncing back from the record setting beatdown he took from former title holder, Max Holloway. There is a bright side, Kattar has never lost two fights in a row, but the reality is that he's 35 and that dam will break soon. His opponent, Allen, is only 28 and has much less tread on the tires. Will age and damage be a factor? Or can Kattar once again certify himself as a top 5 contender, not to be underestimated as he grinds out the new breed?

            Hardcore History: 'Almighty' Arnold Allen hails from Trimley St. Mary, a small village on the outskirts of a seaside town in Suffolk, England hosting the United Kingdom's largest container port. His journey started from a young age, with his father's transition from competitive body building to combat sports, eventually taking Allen to gyms he trained at. Showing him around and enticing Allen's already active interest in wrestling was the spark that stoked the flame. Allen wasted no time, staring his amateur run not even one month after his 16th birthday, then turning pro at 18 and joining the UFC 3 years later. Allen now trains under Firas Zahabi at Tristar gym in Montreal, hoping to harvest any secrets G.S.P. might have uncovered while training there during his hall of fame career. 

          Calvin Kattar is a big family man and giant proponent of making it work where you're from. Born in Mathuen, Massachusetts and remaining loyal to his home state, he trains with the 'New England Cartel' led by head coach Tyson Chartier. He started his pro career at age 19, going (15-2) over 10 years before finally joining the UFC. Before all that he wrestled in high school, placing 5th at State Championships his senior year. After a short stint in community college, he transitioned to MMA, with one of his earliest experiences, 3 fights into his career, being a deep dive into the ridiculous world of legendary brothers Nick & Nate Diaz. He's previously stated that the intense training they put him through helped him understand what it takes to be elite in this sport, it helped pave the way for the fighter he is today. That makes a ton of sense, seeing how he fights with such grit and perseverance. In some crazy round-about way this is another version of the G.S.P. vs Nick Diaz matchup we always wanted, but may have received a tad too late. Can the gritty Boston striker out duel the English Tristar prodigy?

       2. Dustin Jacoby (18-5-1) vs. Khalil Roundtree Jr. (10-5)

           It has been a very long and tenuous career for veteran kickboxer Dustin Jacoby. He hasn't lost an MMA fight since a 2015 submission loss. That was in Bellator, at middleweight, about 4 years after his promotional debut for the UFC where he went 0-2. Since moving to light-heavyweight, he's gone 6-0-1 in just under 2 years. He's 34 so I'm not sure if that accounts for the recent uptick in fights or if he's just now entering his prime. Regardless, he has a tough fight in front of him, facing UFC veteran Khalil Rountree. 

           Burdened with his own obstacles, not just in his rollercoaster fight career, Khalil has been very vocal about mental health and the need for solidarity. He's gone 2-2 in his last 4, getting a win on Saturday would put him on a 3 fight win streak, something he's never experienced since joining the UFC in 2016. So yeah, you could say he's pretty prepared to deal with that sort of pressure. 33 isn't old by any stretch and this light-heavyweight division is as open wide as its ever been, with former long time champ Jon Jones so far out of the picture, now is the time to strike. For both Dustin and Khalil, its go time. 

           Hardcore History: Khalil Rountree was born in Los Angeles in 1990. An infinitely well known hub for music and live talent, LA has also seen its fair share of tragedy in that scene. Just 2 years after his birth, Khalil's father Roderick Rountree was gunned down in an elevator while tour managing and providing secruity for the famous 90's R&B group 'Boys II Men'. As if that level of trauma isn't enough, enter the public school system, no crueler group has ever existed. Through his tough teenage years with no father figure, Khalil rapidly gained weight and assimilated with the goth kids to avoid human contact, aka bullying from other misguided kids. At just 19 years young, Khalil's depression led to severe obesity and suicidal thoughts. Luckily he had an older brother involved in MMA and 2 years later he embraced the spiritual fortitude that can come with hard training. The discipline of MMA pulled him out of that hole and for the past decade he's been embracing the journey with 23 combined amateur and pro fights. 

           His opponent, Dustin Jacoby, was born in 1988 in Fort Morgan, Colorado. He and his twin brother started training taekwando around the age of 5, a few years later adding wrestling to the mix. At the age of 12, his family moved to Illinois and Dustin made the transition to conventional sports. Succeeding in basketball and football, Dustin was offered many scholarships. During his senior year, he sustained a severe knee injury and lost out on the offers, so instead he chose to attend a christian liberal arts college in Missouri. He went on to play football there for 2 years before transferring to a university back in Illinois. He took an amateur MMA fight during his senior year offseason and when he turned 21 he fully transitioned back to Martial Arts, taking his first pro MMA fight in November of 2010. He fought and won his first 6 fights before getting the call to join the UFC. 

       3. Phil Hawes (12-3) vs. Roman Dolidze (10-1) 

           Back in 2017, which feels like 10 years ago thanks to the pandemic, Phillip Nicholas Fitzgerald Hawes (saying his full name out loud reminds you he has a mother who really, really loves him), got viciously knocked out in Dana White's Contender Series. Actually, to be more precise, Julian Marquez literally punted his face as he went to stand up against the cage. It was brutal, especially after he drove over a thousand miles to train with the powerhouse gym Jackson-Wink, but good ol' Phillip didn't let that derail his career. He went on to win his next 3 fights, all by stoppage, which earned him a second chance at UFC glory. It had been 3 years since his harsh defeat in D.W.C.S., Phil was determined to get his redemption. He landed a decisive hard right hand, smashing his opponent in the very first round, subsequently he went on a 3 fight win streak in the orginization, bringing his total streak to 6. Then he ran into a Chris Curtis left hook and found himself once again on the wrong side of momentum. Ouch, not again. 

          Good thing he's durable. Since then, he's bounced back with a 2nd round elbow parade k.o. over Deron Winn. At age 33, looking to get back on a win streak, he must now face 10-1 Georgian grappler Roman Dolidze.  Riding his own wave of momentum, at age 34, Roman is looking for his 3rd win in a row, most recently coming off a knee-to-the-dome k.o. of Kyle Daukaus. His only loss came a year before that, after three hard fought rounds he ended up on the wrong side of a close decision against Trevin Giles. Phil is slightly similar to Trevin, but can be a little more aggressive, we will see if Roman can use that against him to score a few takedowns. My prediction is that these bulls clash at full clip and we get a 2nd round stoppage. 

        Hardcore History: Technically by trade Phil is a grappler, which makes this fight that much more intriguing. Phillip Hawes went to highschool in Ridgefield, New Jersey where he played football and wrestled. He went to Iowa for college, arguably the top collegiate wrestling state in the nation. Having won a junior college title, he eventually transferred to Division 1 at Iowa State. With that grappling pedigree and an addictive work ethic, he took a few amateur MMA fights in Iowa before driving out to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2014 where he eventually went Pro. Talk about dedication. 

        His opponent Roman Dolidze had a bit of a different experience growing up, he played soccer for 8 years, the last 3 as a professional goal keeper. He was born in Batumi, Georgia., the second largest city and capital of the republic of Adjara. At 20 he decided to move to Ukraine where he studied many grappling arts, including Sambo and Jiu Jitsu. After winning many championships in different grappling promotions, he unsuccessfully tried his hand at ADCC Submission World Championships. It wasn't till he turned 28 that he committed to the sport of MMA, getting his first taste of victory with back to back first round heel hooks in 2 different Ukrainian fight promotions. His UFC career didn't start until 2020 with a 1st round TKO win.