After the Bellator 287 main event on Saturday afternoon ends, your MMA day won’t be over by a long shot. There’s still more action to come your way in primetime. A week removed from UFC 280 in Abu Dhabi, Dana White‘s promotion returns stateside for another UFC Fight Night inside the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Featherweight Action in UFC Vegas 63 Main Event
All told, Saturday’s UFC Vegas 63 (main card 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT on ESPN+ after the undercard at 4 pm ET/ 1 pm PT) will feature 11 fights, barring any further alterations between now and then. Highlighting the night’s action is a battle to stay in the top five of the featherweight rankings in the UFC Vegas 63 main event.
No. 5 contender Calvin Kattar (23-6 MMA, 7-4 UFC) will collide with No. 6 contender Arnold Allen (18-1 MMA, 9-0 UFC) in the headlining bout. As has been the case with most main events in the UFC over the last 11 years, the UFC Vegas 63 main event will be an advertised maximum of five rounds at five minutes per round to close the show.
UFC Vegas 63 Main Event Fighter Comparison and Betting Odds
Heading into the main event on Saturday night, Calvin Kattar stands as the taller competitor at 5-foot-11, compared to the 5-foot-8 frame of Arnold Allen. Kattar also owns a two-inch reach advantage (72 inches to 70 inches) and a one-inch leg reach advantage (40 inches to 39 inches) over Allen.
The oddsmakers currently have this fight as a pick-’em on Saturday, with Calvin Kattar as a -120 favorite and Arnold Allen having even odds. If you choose to place a bet on the UFC Vegas 63 main event, please wager responsibly.
Calvin Kattar Still Bothered by Split Decision From June
Calvin Kattar enters the headliner on Saturday having posted a record of 3-2 in his last five bouts. Most recently, he dropped a split decision against Josh Emmett (18-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) during UFC Austin back in June.
The defeat is still a contentious topic for Kattar about four and a half months later, and he used his Wednesday media availability to take the judges to task.
“Really, the thing I want to stress, not to go back too far and sound like a poor sport or anything like that, we just want accountability for the judges, things like that,” Kattar told the press. “That’s really it. We have a bad day in the office, we pay for it. Mistakes happen. It’s part of the game when there’s human error involved in everything.”
Kattar then reiterated his team’s desire for state athletic commissions to put regulations in place that hold fight referees accountable for their actions and decisions during cards. Although he had a bone to pick with the officials at the press conference, the time for talk is about over.
One question remains: How well will he do in the UFC Vegas 63 main event on Saturday night? Tune in and find out.
Arnold Allen Looks to Go 10-0 in UFC With a Win in UFC Vegas 63 Main Event
In the other corner, Arnold Allen has gone 5-0 in his last five UFC appearances as part of his current nine-fight winning streak since joining the promotion in the summer of 2015. Dating back to the summer of 2014, when he was in Cage Warriors, Allen has won 11 fights in succession.
Last time out, he scored a first-round knockout (punches, knees, and elbows) versus Dan Hooker (21-12 MMA, 11-8 UFC) during UFC London in March. After that fight, Allen challenged Kattar to a match. On Saturday, he gets his wish.
Allen met with the media on Wednesday, and it sounds like he’s hungry for another win.
“I feel great,” Allen began. “It feels like things are coming together, you know? 9-0 in the UFC, 10-0, that would be nice. That sounds like a perfect number.”
Even when he’s away from the Octagon, Allen says he keeps close tabs on the UFC’s featherweight ranks. He offered his thoughts on the current state of the 155-lb. weight class.
“It’s definitely a good moment for it at the minute,” he said. “But with like what we were saying earlier, (Alexander) Volkanovski just running so far ahead, there’s sort of no clear contender. It’s a good opportunity to try and sort of stand out.”
With a victory on Saturday night in the UFC Vegas 63 main event, Arnold Allen will assuredly find himself in the featherweight championship conversation. A win here would make it 10 in a row, something that would be borderline impossible for the matchmakers to ignore.
Analysis, Film Study, and Prediction
Stylistically, the UFC Vegas 63 main event looks to favor Arnold Allen, a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, compared to Calvin Kattar’s blue belt in BJJ. The former also has experience as a kickboxer, going 3-0 inside the ring.
Calvin Kattar’s One-Punch Power Could Spell Disaster for Arnold Allen
Calvin Kattar has been known to punch his way to victory in the past, much like he did during UFC 249 against Jeremy Stephens on May 9, 2020. That card was noteworthy for being the first UFC event after the promotion’s nearly two-month hiatus due to COVID-19.
Although the card was closed to fans that night, Kattar brought the noise with his punches. During the second round of a scheduled three, he opened up with repeated low kicks, causing Stephens’ leg to swell up.
Kattar was able to move in on Stephens, but Stephens pieced him up with a few punches to the face, mixing up his attack by feinting some leg kicks and landing an elbow.
However, Calvin Kattar was simply too much for Jeremy Stephens to handle nearly two and a half years ago, responding to a leg kick to his body with a vicious right elbow shot to knock him down, ending the fight with nasty ground and pound shots, including a left-handed elbow for the knockout. If Calvin Kattar is able to land the nasty elbow, the UFC Vegas 63 main event will be his for the taking on Saturday night.
Which of these fighters tops your UFC Pound for Pound list?
Volkanovski
Nunes
Adesanya
Usman
Arnold Allen Can Throw Hands, Too
In the other corner, Arnold Allen can drop bombs of his own, just as he did against Dan Hooker last spring. Right from the command to fight, Allen stalked Hooker as he waited for the right moment to land a solid blow.
He began his attack by landing a few kicks to Hooker’s calf, yet Hooker returned fire by landing a punch to back Allen up to the fence. This awakened the sleeping giant, with Allen landing relentless shots to the head and nearly knocking Hooker out.
Allen’s pace slowed down due to exhaustion from the onslaught of punches, allowing Hooker to land a few counterpunches, but his output was short-lived. Upon recovering, Allen was able to land another burst of shots on Dan Hooker, backing him up to the cage fence, with the referee intervening not long after.
If Arnold Allen is able to land a variety of shots, he’ll go 10-0 in the UFC on Saturday night.
Final Thoughts
Much like the Bellator 287 main event on Saturday night, just because the UFC Vegas 63 main event has no title attached to it, don’t sleep on it by any means whatsoever. The winner will find himself in the title race when he wakes up on Sunday morning.
Prediction: Arnold Allen by First-Round TKO.
main image credit: Embed from Getty Images
