PREVIEW: UFC Fight Night 213

Main Event 

11/10 Calvin Kattar vs Arnold Allen 19/10 (Featherweight)

Calvin Kattar, a striking prospect steps straight back into battle against England’s next best hope at a UFC champion, Arnold Allen. One featherweight hopes to cement his top-five ranking, while another attempts to break into the party.

Calvin Kattar (23-6) took a huge chunk of time off after losing the biggest fight of his career to former featherweight champion Max Holloway. A year passed before he faced off with top-five hopeful Giga Chikadze in January of this year, whom he dismantled in a Fight-of-the-Night performance via unanimous decision. More shockingly, and which is becoming ever-increasing in the UFC, Kattar was dealt a dubious split decision loss at the hands of Josh Emmett. Now, just four months have passed, and the Boston-based fighter hopes to punch himself back into the win column.

Perfect through his first nine UFC throwdowns and riding an 11-fight winning streak overall, Arnold Allen (18-1) is the top emerging contender in the featherweight division. Currently sixth in the rankings, Almighty Allen should bump himself above his fifth-ranked opponent. The 28-year-old Englishman extended his run back in March in front of a London crowd with a first-round technical knockout win over fan favourite Dan Hooker. Prior to his statement victory on the path to UFC gold, wins over Sodiq Yussuff and Nik Lentz were exceptional, to say the least. While a win over Kattar doesn’t solidify a championship shot, it is nothing to be despondent over.

Verdict: Arnold Allen

This bout makes a great deal of sense for each competitor at this time while current featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski is pursuing ‘double-champ’ status in a bout against new lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. The winner should help clarify the contender picture at the top of the 145-pound weight class.

Calvin has shown his gas tank, great MMA boxing prowess, and the ability to take an onslaught of strikes, but having a ‘dog’ in you doesn’t secure victory. The powerful striking accompanying Arnold’s already established grappling skills has slowly come into the picture, but none more so than against Dan Hooker. You can expect another true statement victory in this five-round affair.

Co-main

Tim Means 14/10 vs Max Griffin 5/10 (Welterweight)

Seasoned welterweight fighters are determined to get things moving in the right direction again in the co-main event of this UFC Fight Night. Max “Pain” Griffin squares off with Tim “The Dirty Bird” Means in what can be viewed as a homage to the longevity of these two individuals – hats off to the UFC matchmakers for outing this together.

38-year-old Tim Means (32-13-1) returned to action after roughly a year on the sidelines against up-and-coming Kevin Holland who snapped his three-fight win streak. Tim remains an excellent test for most fighters looking to break their way into the upper rankings of the division, recently defeating Mike Perry, Laureano Staropoli and Nicolas Dolby via unanimous decision wins. While fighters like Belal Muhammed, Niko Price and Daniel Rodriguez passed the test with flying colours. Now, he is shown the respect he deserves in fighting an opponent of similar standing.

Like his counterpart, Max Griffin (18-9) enters this bout in hopes of bouncing back after a loss having his own three-fight win streak cut by rising star Neil Magny. While the split decision loss to Magny was fair, his TKOs of Ramiz Brahimaj and Kenan Song, alongside a massive victory over former division champion Carlos Condit was still undone. The idea is to regroup and at the ripe old age of 37, the time is now for the well-rounded veteran.

Verdict: Max Griffin

These two have been features in the division for the last several years and lasting tough macthups for whomever crossed their path. They are a true MMA throwback, but to their credit have added new and improved tools to their arsenal over the years to stay relevant. There is no reason to believe that their gritty fight styles will not continue this weekend when they share the Octagon.

Fight of the Night

UFC Fight Night events are better viewing for the fight fan in my opinion. Fighters come out with a point to prove and truly throw caution to the wind. Of the many fights on offer, aside from a main event that’s bound to deliver, one does stand out quite considerably.

Middleweights with aspirations of climbing the divisional ladder clash as Josh Fremd (9-3) takes on TUF 29’s Tresean Gore (3-2). A defined run under another promotion and a victory to impress on Dana White’s Lookin’ for a Fight earned Fremd a spot on the UFC roster, but plans didn’t go as expected. At UFC 273 he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Anthony Hernandez and hopes to get into the win column this Saturday night. Tresean Gore was unstoppable until he was dispatched of by Bryan Battle – whom he was supposed to fight for the winner of TUF 29 had he not been injured. He followed that up months later with another loss, and should he fail to impress now, he could be cut from the roster. All the potential and bucketloads of power will be on display in what I believe should be the fight of the night.

Full card predictions:

Main Card: 01:00 CAT, Sunday 30 October

 Featherweight Calvin Kattar (11/10) vs Arnold Allen (19/10): Allen

• Welterweight Time Means (14/10) vs Max Griffin (5/10): Griffin
• Heavyweight Waldo Cortes-Acosta (46/100) vs Jared Vanderaa (31/20): Cortes-Acosta
• Middleweight Josh Fremd (57/100) vs Tresean Gore (5/4): Gore
• Light Heavyweight Dustin Jacoby (53/100) vs Khalil Rountree (27/20): Rountree

Prelims: 22:00 CAT, Saturday 29 October

• Middleweight Phil Hawes (51/100) vs Roman Dolidze (27/20): Hawes
• Heavyweight Andrei Arlovski (18/10) vs Marcos Rogerio de Lima (39/100): Arlovski
• Middleweight Joseph Holmes (7/4) vs Park Jun-yong (4/10): Jun-yong
• Featherweight Chase Hooper (1/3) vs Steve Garcia (2/1): Hooper
• Flyweight Cody Durden (13/10) vs Carlos Mota (54/100): Durden
• Bantamweight Christian Rodriguez (23/100) vs Joshua Weems (11/4): Rodriguez