Calvin Kattar eyes 2024 return after knee surgery: ‘I don’t want to have any second guessing stepping in there’
Calvin Kattar won’t be rushing his return from knee surgery.
Kattar suffered a torn ACL in his loss to Arnold Allen back in October and had to get surgery to repair it. Usually, a torn ACL takes about a year to return, while some take less time and although Kattar’s doctors have told him he is ahead of schedule, he doesn’t want to rush anything. Instead, he says he is focused on being 100% and doesn’t expect to return until 2024.
“I think it’s possible, but I don’t want to push for it,” Kattar told MMA Junkie. “I kind of just want to sit back, be patient, and I feel like it’s not so much cutting off a couple of months – (I) just want to make sure I’m 100 percent when I get in there, and then this way I can just let it all go with reckless abandonment when I step back in there. I don’t want to have any second-guessing stepping in there – should I have gone in too soon or not. I’ll just get that much more ready for an eventual return. I’m eyeing I believe 2024, first quarter for sure, and I’ll be ready to go with whoever they put in there with me next.”
When Kattar does return, it’s uncertain who he will be matched up with. He still is a top-10 featherweight and is still only a few wins away from a title shot. However, he says he will face whoever when he returns as he’s just focused on rehab right now.
“I want to fight everybody – whoever is in my way to the belt,” Kattar said. “My mindset was always just take them all out on my way to the belt. I kind of wanted to beat everybody before I even get the belt, so there’s really no challenges they could throw at me. That was always my mindset, my goal. For right now, it’s just recovery – getting back to being 100 percent healthy, and then eventually just taking out whoever they put in front of me next. I really don’t care who it is – just focus on getting back and competing at the level I know I can compete at.”
Calvin Kattar (23-7) has lost two straight as before the injury loss to Allen, he suffered a controversial split decision to Josh Emmett. Before the setbacks, Kattar cruised to a decision win over Giga Chikadze to return to the win column after losing to Max Holloway.
