Preview: UFC Vegas 102 ‘Cannonier vs. Rodrigues’

Featherweights

Youssef Zalal (16-5-1, 6-3-1 UFC) vs. Calvin Kattar (23-8, 7-6 UFC)

ODDS: Zalal (-395), Kattar (+310)

Zalal’s comeback was one of the more interesting subplots of 2024, as “The Moroccan Devil” was unexpectedly successful upon his return to the UFC. Zalal was a raw but talented fighter when he signed with the UFC in 2020, and after reeling off three straight wins to kick off his UFC career, he went winless in his next four and was then shown the door; however, losses to Ilia Topuria and Sean Woodson, along with a draw against Da’Mon Blackshear, all eventually aged quite well. Zalal then smashed some lower-level competition on the regional scene—enough to earn a return to a major promotion but nothing that suggested he was suddenly a new fighter—to get the return call from the UFC in March. Billy Quarantillo looked like a tough return assignment for him, but Zalal instead put in the best performance of his career, picking apart the former King of the Cage champion’s aggressive style before hopping onto a second-round submission. Since then, Zalal has done nothing but top himself with career-best performances, running through Jarno Errens before putting on a complete showing against Jack Shore, crushing the Welshman with a knee before jumping onto another submission. Zalal has certainly earned this shot at the rankings and then some, and he might be catching Kattar—who looks for his first win since 2022—at just the right time.

Unlike Zalal, Kattar hit the UFC in 2017 as a finished product ready to contend. A solid if unexciting boxer for most of his regional career, the New Englander got the UFC call just as he was discovering his knockout power. Kattar never quite got over the hump towards any sort of true title contention—losses to Renato “Money” Moicano, Zabit Magomedsharipov and Max Holloway at various points each took care of that—but he was basically the ideal of a Top 10 featherweight at his peak, keeping up an active schedule of exciting fights that the UFC could slot wherever it saw fit. The question is exactly how far Kattar is removed from that peak. His loss to Holloway in 2021 was an all-time beating, but Kattar didn’t seem to be affected by that result upon his return, beating Giga Chikadze before losing a nip-tuck war to Josh Emmett. However, Kattar then tore his ACL in his next bout against Arnold Allen, and his return against Aljamain Sterling after an 18-month layoff wasn’t exactly the best showing. Sterling remains an underrated fighter despite being a former bantamweight champion, but it was still surprising exactly how well he was able to neutralize Kattar’s increasingly power-heavy boxing game. Sterling’s wrestling was obviously a major part of his success, but he was able to leverage his length into pot-shotting Kattar without much coming in return. Zalal isn’t quite at Sterling’s level—at least not yet—but it’s easy to see him using that fight as a blueprint, even it will be a messier exercise. Zalal is more of an opportunistic grappler than a control-heavy wrestler, and despite his combination of size and speed, he still does manage to get hit hard at moments he should be able to avoid. Despite all of Zalal’s recent success, this marks Kattar’s clearest step back in competition in half a decade, so there’s a chance he’s able to hold serve and retain his ranking in dominant fashion. Nevertheless, the call is that Zalal has the combination of skill and youth to get a close victory in a fun fight over the finish line. The pick is Zalal via decision.

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Cannonier vs. Rodrigues
Zalal vs. Kattar
Shahbazyan vs. Budka
Bonfim vs. Sadykhov
Vieira vs. Petroski
Delgado vs. Matthews
The Prelims