Max Holloway v Calvin Kattar Odds, Tips, Free Bets & Prediction

One of the most popular fighters on the UFC roster, Max Holloway is set to kickstart 2021 for the UFC by making his return to the octagon to face the in-form Kalvin Kattar on January 23rd - a fight we assure you will be worthy of your time.

Victim of what many people believed to be an egregious judging error, Max Holloway is looking to rebound from his second consecutive loss to 145 lbs champion, Alexander Volkanovski, on ‘Fight Island’ back in July.

Conversely, 32-year-old Kalvin Katter is in the midst of his career-best form, currently riding a 2-fight win streak and suffering a sole decision loss - at the hands of Zabit Magomedsharipov - in his last five outings.

A win for either man will have huge title implications at 145 lbs, with the winner most likely the favourite, or at least a step closer, to a crack at Alexander Volkanovski. Let’s take a deeper look at where both fighters currently stand and how events are likely to unfold.

Read all our UFC Fight Tip predictions and tips right here!

Holloway enters January’s main event as the rightful 1/2 favourite; the former champion, despite losing, is coming off an impressive performance in his last fight against Volkanovski, where for the first time in his career he demonstrated and ability to implement stylistic adjustments between fights in order to deal with a fighter possessing one of the most layered games in MMA.

Stylistically, this is a pretty favourable matchup for Holloway; for all of his offensive acumen, Kattar is exceptionally vulnerable to opponents with an adept outside kicking game - best exhibited during his fights with Renato Moicano and Zabit Magomedsharipov - and while certain aspects of Holloway’s kicking game have been partially phased out of his approach during the last two years, he brought back that area of his arsenal somewhat during his last fight with Volkanovski, confirming it most certainly still exists.

However, given some of Kattar’s physical advantages, Holloway will have to be cute when attempting to close the distance on Kattar. If there’s one criticism you can apply to Holloway, it’s that his defensive approach has always been largely based around an ability to walk through powerful shots in order to impose himself on his opponent. A style like that has a finite lifespan, and now both 10 years and 27 fights into a career which has seen him involved in a few wars, the risks of walking into shots from a puncher as big as Kattar are far more consequential than they were two years ago.

As is almost always the case, Holloway is the man with advantage as far as cardio and output is concerned - something we believe will very likely be decisive in the later rounds. While this fight is unlikely to be decided on the ground, Holloway possesses a mean guillotine - as seen in his wins over Andre Fili and Cub Swanson.

It’s not something we’ve seen Holloway resort to in five years, though, so unless the opportunity presents itself after he rocks Kattar on the feet it’s not something you should be expecting to happen.

Kattar is undoubtedly the underdog, but there are certainly avenues through which he can find success; alongside a significant reach advantage, he has a fantastic jab that is definitely capable of competing with that of Holloway and is also arguably a more polished boxer in the pocket.

Additionally, and as previously mentioned, Katter is a big hitter by featherweight standards, which is probably his most defining attribute in relation to victory here, because a knockout win is the only method of victory that’s really justifiable for Kattar.

He’ll need to use the periods when Holloway is attempting to close the distance on him to counter him upon entry. As stated, this fight is very unlikely to go to the ground, which will be of no concern to Kattar considering it’s an aspect of MMA he’s largely happy to neglect.

Hypothetically, though, he’s not the man with a grappling advantage in this matchup. On paper, this fight is about as fan-friendly as they come. It should be competitive early, but over five rounds - and especially if Holloway successfully implements the outside kicking game we know he can - many of Kattar’s advantages should effectively become redundant.

Holloway specialises in improving as the fight progresses, and as he starts to take control of proceedings his output will increase in tandem, presenting Kattar with a myriad of issues to deal with. Kattar is a very good fighter but one with a clear ceiling, and we expect Holloway to begin to run away with the fight from round 3 onwards, taking a comfortable decision win.