Calvin Kattar landed 70 strikes on Dan Ige's face, leaving his opponent with a swollen eye, countless cuts, and many bruises
- Calvin Katter and Dan Ige went to war Thursday at the Flash Forum on "Fight Island," Abu Dhabi.
- Though Katter appeared to badly hurt his nose, it was the American stand-up fighter who did the far greater damage, causing countless cuts, many bruises, and his eye to swell shut.
- Watch some of the highlights from the UFC featherweight fight below.
FIGHT ISLAND — Calvin Kattar landed 70 strikes on Dan Ige's face, leaving his opponent with a swollen eye, countless cuts, and many bruises.
Though there was little to separate Kattar from Ige on total strike statistics alone, judging from the state each fighter left the Octagon in, it was clear that the winner's blows were more brutal.
The featherweight fighters headlined the second of the UFC's four "Fight Island" events in a quarantined area on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
The UFC analyst Jon Anik told Insider this week that the bout demonstrated "bullet-proof matchmaking" on UFC's part, with the commentator expecting a potential Fight of the Year candidate should it last five rounds.
Indeed it went the distance, with Kattar earning a 49-46, 49-46, 48-47 decision win.
The fight was largely fought on the feet, with sporadic and unsuccessful takedown attempts peppered between constant punching, kicking, and elbowing.
There were 483 combined strikes in this fight, with both fighters applying regular pressure throughout the bout.
They both closed the show in style.
But there could only be one winner — Katter.
Though it appeared he may have badly hurt his nose early in the fight, Katter did considerable damage to Ige's face:
"He had a good right hand, clipped my nose with one of them," said Katter post-fight.
"In a 25 minute fight, you're going to get hit with some s---. I felt like I hit him with a lot more and if there were a couple more rounds, maybe I get the finish, but with that kid you're gonna have to fight to the death.
"He's a tough kid, six fight win streak, you don't get that by luck."
The American advances his record to 22 wins (11 knockouts, two submissions, and nine decisions) against four losses, will likely rise up the featherweight rankings, and could be matched with a top contender like Max Holloway or even the champion Alexander Volkanovski in the future.
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