UFC Vegas 102’s co-main event, featuring featherweights Calvin Kattar and Youssef Zalal, strangely resembled its main event. In the sense that in both fights, it was a ranked veteran on a losing streak facing a younger, rising contender on a winning streak.
As for the co-main, perennial top 10 featherweight Kattar was facing the streaking Zalal. “The Moroccan Devil” looked rejuvenated in 2024, going 3-0 after a stint on the regional scene.
The first two rounds of the fight looked eerily similar, with Zalal winning both purely on activity. He kept circling and peppering Kattar with shots. He tried to mix in some takedowns, giving Kattar different looks. And while the Bostonian successfully defended the takedowns, Zalal timed the attempts well enough to disrupt Kattar’s rhythm, making sure he never got going.
In round three, Zalal, perhaps not trusting his cardio, took the first half of the round off, barely throwing any strikes. Kattar, knowing he needed a finish, showed more urgency. But his efforts proved futile as he still couldn’t tag Zalal on a consistent enough basis to threaten a KO.
Youssef Zalal won by unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three scorecards. But what did this win represent? It’s by far his best win yet, but it’s also his least impressive performance since coming back to the UFC. It was a big opportunity and he took home the W, but he didn’t make the statement the promotion was perhaps anticipating from him. This win will still allow Zalal to break into the rankings, which is the most important thing for him at this stage of his career. We will see how he fares now that he is surrounded by nothing but contenders. In his post-fight speech, he called out Brian Ortega. Not a bad callout, but he acknowledged that the former two-time title challenger is looking at a move to lightweight.
As for Calvin Kattar, this is the first time he actually looked his age in terms of fight years. After the beating he took from Max Holloway, he took a full year off to recover and came back with an upset win over the then-streaking Giga Chikadze. He then followed that up with a decision loss to Josh Emmett in a fight that a lot of people thought should have gone his way.
Kattar next injured his knee against Arnold Allen, forcing him to take an 18-month layoff. He came back for UFC 300 against Aljamain Sterling in a fight where he looked lifeless and surrendered eight takedowns. But the narrative around him was that he had only lost to the very best, and even in some of his losses, he either should have gotten the decision or lost due to an injury. And the setback Sterling was chalked off to the former champion’s stellar wrestling ability and Kattar’s long layoff. However, this is the first fight where Kattar simply has no excuse. There is no narrative to save him. He simply looked his age. He has some hard miles on him and his reluctance to throw as many strikes as he maybe could have is a sign that those hard miles are taking a toll on him.
Now on a four-fight losing streak, even prior to the fight there were talks that Kattar may have been fighting for his job. I’m not convinced that’s the case. He’s been a good company man throughout the years, stepping up when the promotion has needed him to and never turning down a fight. However, the fact that he looked this gun shy at times may be a sign that he can’t even provide the UFC with the fun, action-packed matchups we’ve been accustomed to see from him. If his contending years are behind him and he can’t provide fun fights, then maybe the UFC won’t have any interest in keeping him around. Only time will tell on that front.
