Pre-fight Analysis

Fighter Betting Trends: Kattar vs Ige

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Fighter Betting Trends: Calvin Kattar is coming off a decisive win over Jeremy Stephens at UFC 249 in May and is currently climbing up the featherweight ranks. The #6 ranked Kattar will take on #10 featherweight Dan Ige at UFC on ESPN 13 this Wednesday from Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. Catch up on the betting trends heading into Kattar vs Ige.

Kattar vs Ige Betting Trends

Current Odds:
Kattar (-305) vs Ige (+275)

The Hawaiin born Dan Ige is currently riding a six-fight winning streak, although his last fight was a controversial split-decision victory over Edson Barboza at UFC on ESPN 8 back in May. Ige will look to silence those who doubted his win over Barboza, by defeating the rising star in Calvin Kattar, who has won 5 of his 7 UFC fights since coming into the promotion in July of 2017. Let’s look at how these two fighters match up

Tale of the tape:
‘The Boston Finisher’
Calvin Kattar

  • Age: 32
  • Height: 5ft 11in
  • Reach: 183cm
  • Fights: 25
  • Record: 21-4
  • Wins by Stoppage: 13

‘Dynamite’
Dan Ige

  • Age: 28
  • Height: 5ft 7in
  • Reach: 180cm
  • Fights: 16
  • Record: 14-2
  • Wins by Stoppage: 8
UFC 247

HOUSTON, TEXAS – FEBRUARY 08: (R-L) Dan Ige celebrates his victory over Mirsad Bektic in their featherweight bout during the UFC 247 event at Toyota Center on February 08, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Fighter Betting Trends: Dan Ige

Dan Ige has won four of his last seven UFC bouts by way of decision. If you bet ‘Ige by decision’ over the course of those seven fights, you’ve profited +11.08 units. Ige is 7-1 over his last eight fights dating back to 2017. If you’ve bet Dan Ige on the money line over the last three years, you’ve profited +6.15 units, for a +1.92% ROI.

Dan Ige has yet to be stopped in his professional MMA career, with his only two losses coming by way of decision. Ige has picked up wins inside the distance in eight of his 16 pro-fights, and six of his 14 professional MMA victories have come by way of decision. At 6:1 odds, if you’re going to back Ige, his only real path to victory here is by way of scorecards. When you consider that Calvin Kattar has never been KO’d or TKO’d in his MMA career, and that his only submission loss came 12 years ago in just his fourth professional MMA fight, there are large doubts that Dan Ige is going to have the tools to be able to finish Calvin Kattar. While getting Dan Ige at +275 may seem like a steal if you’re backing him, there is far more betting value on Ige to win by decision at +600. If you plan on backing Dynamite Dan, be sure to sprinkle some of that wager on the ‘Win by Decision’ prop.

UFC 249

JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – MAY 09: (R-L) Calvin Kattar punches Jeremy Stephens in their featherweight fight during the UFC 249 event at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on May 09, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

 Fighter Betting Trends: Calvin Kattar

Since coming into the UFC in 2017, Kattar has won four of his seven fights by way of stoppage. If you bet on Kattar to win ‘Inside the Distance’ since his UFC debut, you’ve profited +14.03 units over the last three years backing ‘the Boston Finisher.’ Going back to 2016, Kattar is 7-2 for +5.36 units profit on the money line. Meanwhile, backing the ‘Under’ prop in Kattar’s UFC fights has been profitable, as five of Kattar’s seven UFC bouts have gone under the total, for +3.33 units profit. This trend is not just reflected over his seven UFC bouts, but over the course of his entire MMA career. Over his 25 pro-MMA fights, Kattar has picked up stoppage victories in 13 of his 21 wins. This may be what earned him the nickname ‘the Boston Finisher.’ At the current best odds of -118, backing ‘Kattar to win Inside the Distance’ is the most sensible way to bet him, as he currently sits as a -305 favorite. 

Toe to Toe

Kattar is a much more mobile fighter than Ige. His blocking ability and head movement is well suited for Ige’s style of fighting. Kattar utilizes a lot of ‘stick and move’ style striking, while Ige is much more of a wrestle/boxer type fighter. When it comes to willingness to take damage and absorb shots, Kattar is far more conservative. With that being said, don’t expect Kattar to come out and brawl with Ige. Expect this fight to be alot like Kattar’s fight with Jeremy Stephens, where he picks his spots and slowly wares Ige down in the later rounds. This fight being 5 rounds is detrimental to Dan Ige’s success. Kattar is much better suited for a longer fight, he has the better cardio of the two, and with this being a five-round fight, that favors Kattar here. 

Kattar vs Ige: Best Bets

Kattar has a significant height and reach advantage, at 5’11 over Ige at 5’7. That will be a significant factor in this fight. Kattar has 25 professional MMA fights in comparison to Ige having just 16, so Kattar will be the more experienced fighter to an extent in this match up. Kattar is the more rangey fighter of the two here; expect Kattar to utilize his size advantage in this fight and push Ige into the places where he doesn’t want to be, against the cage. Kattar has very strong body striking, which he’ll use to set up those power shots, like that elbow we saw him land vs Jeremy Stephens. 

As for Dan Ige, it’s a matter of will over skill when it comes to his chances in this fight. Ige doesn’t have anything that stands out when it comes to his overall skill package, as far as what he can do in the cage. However, he’s a hard-working fighter, and he has the will and the heart that takes him to that extra level. We saw that in his fight against Edson Barboza, alot of people thought he didn’t deserve that win, but in the end, his ability to stay on his feet and absorb that damage was what got him to the judge’s scorecards and gave him the opportunity to pull out the victory. It will be much of the same when it comes to this fight vs Kattar. Ige does’t likely have the skills to to finish Kattar, but if he can somehow withstand Kattar for five rounds and take it to the judges, he might be able to pull off another upset decision win. However, for that to realistically happen, it would take Calvin Kattar to either make a mistake, or possibly get caught with something that cuts him open badly, or something that causes Kattar to have to deal with adversity. Aside from the variables and variance that could happen in a cage fight, this is Kattar’s fight to lose, and he gets it done inside the distance (-120). 

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Al Mac is a Canadian combat sports writer specializing in betting odds and historical betting trends. Follow on Twitter @AlMacOdds

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