UFC 220’s Calvin Kattar Feels Like He’s Playing With House Money Against Shane Burgos

Calvin Kattar (17-2) discusses his upcoming fight against Shane Burgos (10-0) at UFC 220 on Jan. 20. Calvin also talks about his win over Andre Fili in his UFC debut, his training camp for this matchup and what's next for him. 

Kattar is in the midst of his training camp for the bout against Burgos and the fighter provides an update on how things are going, while talking about working alongside fellow UFC fighter Rob Font.

“Training’s going great, just following the process and the system in place that you know that Rob’s (Font) had in place for most of his career. I just tagged along…it was a great experience following him around England and Vegas, I got to see behind the scenes and really break the ice before I got that short notice opportunity (against Andre Fili at UFC 214). It was nice, I felt like I had been there (in the UFC) before and it prepared me for that," said Kattar.

Kattar did defeat Fili by unanimous decision in that short notice bout at UFC 214, a fight he accepted less than two weeks before the event took place.

The fighter was a betting underdog against Fili at UFC 214 and still pulled the upset, but Kattar doesn’t believe that Fili overlooked him at all in the contest.

“I don’t think he overlooked me, that’s kind of how we (Kattar’s fight team) put it out there, that you know he’s real confident, but I think he knew what he was up against. Even though its short notice, its really tough to be in those shoes (as someone facing a short notice opponent), sometimes you get a last second replacement, your going to know how to prepare for that as well. I’ve had that happen to me as well, on the surface your going to be calm and ready and still go through with the interviews. I think we both knew we were going to be in for a fight. I don’t think it was going to be a +300 fight, I think it was more like 50/50, but I went out and I was happy I came out with a good game plan. I had Rob (Font) out there with me all weekend and supporting me, just like I was out there supporting him. Everything just felt right," he said.

UFC 220 takes place on Saturday, January 20 from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts with Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.