Calvin Kattar will take his time to recover before stepping back into the octagon.
Kattar (23-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) tore the ACL in his right knee in a TKO loss due to injury against Arnold Allen in the UFC Fight Night 213 headliner this past October.
Although he is ahead of schedule in his recovery, the 34-year-old doesn’t want to make the mistake of coming back too soon. He won’t rule out a return this year, but thinks 2024 sounds more realistic.
“I think it’s possible, but I don’t want to push for it,” Kattar told MMA Junkie. “I kind of just want to sit back, be patient, and I feel like it’s not so much cutting off a couple of months – (I) just want to make sure I’m 100 percent when I get in there, and then this way I can just let it all go with reckless abandonment when I step back in there.
“I don’t want to have any second guessing stepping in there – should I have gone in too soon or not. I’ll just get that much more ready for an eventual return. I’m eyeing I believe 2024, first quarter for sure, and I’ll be ready to go with whoever they put in there with me next.”
Kattar’s loss to Allen marked his second straight after he dropped a controversial decision to Josh Emmett, who meets Yair Rodriguez for the interim featherweight title in Saturday’s UFC 284 co-main event.
Both losses came in an unfortunate nature for Kattar, but the Massachusetts native is willing to fight anyone upon his return.
“I want to fight everybody – whoever is in my way to the belt,” Kattar said. “My mindset was always just take them all out on my way to the belt. I kind of wanted to beat everybody before I even get the belt, so there’s really no challenges they could throw at me. That was always my mindset, my goal.
“For right now, it’s just recovery – getting back to being 100 percent healthy, and then eventually just taking out whoever they put in front of me next. I really don’t care who it is – just focus on getting back and competing at the level I know I can compete at.”
