Calvin Kattar had a lot of disrespect heading into his fight against Giga Chikadze on Saturday. Many were picking the UFC featherweight to get destroyed in the first round and plenty of other fun comments.
There was a lot of talk about Giga Chikadze getting the next title shot even before getting in the cage at UFC Vegas 46. Calvin Kattar didn't say anything leading up to the fight but he was paying attention to it.
“For sure, we took all those chips leading into the fight and — calling out the champ, bro, it wasn’t something that I would do,” Kattar said Monday on The MMA Hour. “Not with a fight coming up. It’s definitely just overlooking your opponent. The disrespect, like you said. We felt that way, but didn’t really want to give him any locker room material. Just take that into the fight with me and know that it’s dangerous once I get the opportunity to make you pay for it.”
Things were different after UFC Vegas 46 as the two talked after the fight and took a picture in the hospital together. Behind the scenes, it was all bout respect between the two.
“Just bumping into him left and right leading into the fight, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t,” Kattar said of the hospital picture. “But going into the hospital after, we bumped into each other. It’s always easy to show each other respect after you throw down with each other for 25 minutes. A lot of the emotions are settled. But no, just respect, tough fight. He’s durable. I hit him with some clean shots that most people I think would have taken a knee or fell down. He was wobbled, but never really dropped. Towards the end of the round I thought I might have had him, but credit to him he held off and yeah, it was a hell of a fight.”
“All that stuff’s bullshit, even all the interviews, all the crap, it boils down to 25 minutes in the octagon, and all the talking in the world at that point is irrelevant,” Kattar added.
Giga Chikadze made some comments on Facebook after the UFC main event saying he would be Calvin Kattar ‘9 out of 10 times.' Kattar simply brushed it off.
“No, it’s different when you hear people in person and in interviews,” Kattar said. “But I don’t take it personal, man. It’s whatever. I wish him a speedy recovery, bounce back. I told him all you can do now is make the next guy pay and that’s exactly what I did. Hopefully, he responds to the loss well. It doesn’t sound like it’s going that way early, but hopefully he just understands that. Honestly, he can understand whatever he wants. For me, it helped me to just focus on the things I can control and focus on the comeback, not so much really the last one.”
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