UFC president Dana White admitted that he was bothered by how much damage Calvin Kattar took against Max Holloway at UFC on ABC 1.
Kattar was on the wrong end of a historic beating at the hands, elbows, feet and, knees of Holloway, who systematically beat Kattar down over the course of five rounds, setting numerous UFC records in the process. Although there are many ways to win in MMA, by about the third or fourth round it became clear that Kattar had no chance of winning this fight. But his corner didn’t throw in the towel despite their fighter taking incredible damage in the match.
Ultimately, Kattar was able to make it the full 25 minutes, he took potentially fight-altering damage in the fight, and even White admitted that he was incredibly uncomfortable watching what was happening. In fact, White said that he confronted Kattar’s corner following the Holloway fight and expressed his frustration with not stopping the fight sooner. Take a look at what the UFC president told reporters following the main event at UFC on ABC 1.
White: "I had gone over to (Kattar's) corner because I thought that the fight should have been stopped after the fourth round. I was freaking out a little bit."
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) January 16, 2021
“I had gone over to (Kattar’s) corner because I thought that the fight should have been stopped after the fourth round. I was freaking out a little bit,” White said (h/t TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter).
Considering there was a story about former UFC star Spencer Fisher that came out last week where he discussed the brain trauma issues he has dealt with in retirement, seeing Kattar taking this incredible beating was very hard to watch. Although Kattar is a warrior and as durable as anyone you’ll ever see in MMA, watching him get his head and body beaten up like that was definitely a tough watch. It’s an example of a fight that the corner should have stopped.
Were you like Dana White and concerned about seeing how much damage Calvin Kattar took against Max Holloway?