Josh Emmett outlasts Calvin Kattar as card ties record number of KOs
Heading into the UFC Fight Night featherweight main event between Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett, the fans in Austin, Texas, had been spoiled by a record-tying night of eight knockouts.
Coutesy: ESPN
Then Kattar and Emmett engaged in a bloody, tactical battle over five rounds that ended with Emmett winning a split decision.
The fight was a battle of Kattar's long, straight punches against Emmett's explosive and looping power shots.
From the opening moments of the fight, it was clear that the man who could lead the forward engagement would be the fighter doing the more effective work.
In the first two rounds, that edge was held by Emmett as he launched overhand rights and left hooks to the body that repeatedly sent Kattar onto his back foot and stumbling backward into the cage.
Kattar seemed to make the necessary adjustments over the second half of the fight, using a stiff jab and step-in elbows to open a deep cut over Emmett's left eye.