UFC 300 Fight Card Preview: Calvin Kattar Vs. Aljamain Sterling

Former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling makes his featherweight debut against Calvin ... [+] Kattar on the prelims of the UFC 300 fight card. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Zuffa LLC

A former UFC champion switches weight divisions on the prelims of the UFC 300 fight card.

In that matchup, Aljamain Sterling, who lost his UFC bantamweight title to Sean O’Malley in August, moves up to the featherweight division to face Calvin Kattar on the ESPN preliminary card of the historic fight card, which takes place on April 13 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Kattar is riding a two-fight losing streak ahead of the matchup. He is currently the No. 8 fighter in the official UFC featherweight rankings.

We take a deep dive into the featherweight matchup between Kattar and Sterling.

Careers

Calvin Kattar

Calvin Kattar (23-7) made his UFC debut in July 2017. Ahead of that matchup opposite Andre Fili, Kattar had a 17-2 record and was coming off two decision victories under the CES banner. Kattar was a replacement fighter on that card, taking the spot of Choi Doo-ho, who withdrew from that fight the same month. Kattar made the most of that opportunity, beating Fili by decision.

Kattar was 6-2 with two “Fight of the Night” bonuses to his name when the UFC booked him in the biggest, and toughest, fight of his career, a main event scrap against former UFC featherweight titleholder Max Holloway.

Holloway put a record-setting beating on Kattar that night, taking the unanimous decision by scores of 50-43, 50-43, and 50-42. The 36-year-old is 1-2 since losing to Holloway. He is coming off a TKO loss due to a knee injury against Arnold Allen.

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Aljamain Sterling

Aljamain Serling (23-4) had an 8-0 MMA record when he got the call to fight for the UFC. Sterling was the CFFC bantamweight champ when the UFC tapped him to replace an injured Bryan Caraway opposite Lucas Martins at UFC 170. That fight fell through when Martins was injured. Instead, Sterling made his promotional debut against Cody Gibson on the prelims of that pay-per-view card. Sterling won that contest by unanimous decision.

Sterling won his next three fights before dropping back-to-back split decisions to Bryan Caraway and Raphael Assuncao. He rebounded from those losses with two straight wins before losing to Marlon Moraes by a vicious knockout.

Sterling returned from that loss and won five straight fights, earning a shot at UFC bantamweight champion Petr Yan in March 2021. That fight ended in controversy after Yan landed an illegal knee that left Sterling unable to continue. The disqualification gave Sterling the 135-pound title, a belt he defended in April 2022 when he defeated Yan via decision. Sterling defended his crown twice more, topping T.J. Dillashaw and Henry Cejudo before falling to O’Malley via knockout at UFC 292

UFC 300 Betting Odds for Calvin Kattar vs. Aljamain Sterling

The former bantamweight titleholder is a -143 betting favorite in this matchup. Meanwhile, Kattar, who opened as the betting favorite in his past two scraps, both losses, is the +120 betting underdog at UFC 300.

Significant Stats

Kattar is four inches taller than Sterling, but he only has a one-inch reach advantage over the former UFC 135-pound kingpin.

Kattar is an active striker, landing 5.12 significant strikes per minute, but he is not an accurate striker, connecting on just 39 percent of his attempted strikes. As far as defense, the Holloway loss might skew some of Kattar’s numbers, but he absorbs 7.10 significant strikes per minute on a defensive rate of 54 percent. Outside of Holloway, Kattar has outlanded his opponents in his past two fights to go the distance. As for grappling, Kattar averages 0.42 takedowns per 15 minutes, with a takedown accuracy of 29 percent. His takedown defense is 91 percent, and he averages 0.1 submissions per 15 minutes.

Sterling is a decent striker, but he excels on the mat. He lands 4.73 significant strikes with an accuracy of 52 percent. He gets tagged, on average, 2.41 times per minute with a defensive rate of 58 percent. Sterling averages 1.97 takedowns per 15 minutes, with an accuracy of 24 percent. His takedown defense is 45 percent, and he picks up 0.8 submissions per 15 minutes of UFC action.