AUSTIN, Texas – If fight fans are hoping for a fun show in the main event of UFC on ESPN 37, Josh Emmett promises to deliver the goods.
Headlining for the second time in his UFC career, Emmett (17-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) will meet a fellow featherweight who is no stranger to the main event spotlight, Calvin Kattar. While Emmett knows he’s in for a thought fight against a dangerous opponent in Kattar (23-5 MMA, 7-3 UFC), the main event stage won’t add any pressure to perform.
“It’s just another fight,” Emmett told reporters including MMA Junkie at Wednesday’s media day. “I don’t look at it in any other way. I always prepare the same. I’ve been preparing for a five, six-round fight my entire career. So yeah, there could possibly be two more rounds, but it’s no different to me.”
Should he be successful on Saturday, Emmett’s win streak will sit at five, as he enters with consecutive wins over Michael Johnson, Mirsad Bektic, Shane Burgos, and Dan Ige. During that stretch, Emmett took home two bonuses for his work, which speaks to his ability to put on exciting fights for the fans.
“Every fight has the potential to be one of the Fights of the Night, Fight of the Year, if I’m involved in it,” Emmett said. “I feel like every single fight I’ve been in, everyone’s like, ‘This is a banger, this is gonna be fireworks’ – and it will. At the end of the day, I really do not know what’s gonna happen.”
In preparation for this bout, Emmett leaned on a former opponent to help emulate Kattar’s style. He brought in Burgos, the man he shared a Fight of the Night bonus with two years ago. Emmett’s team found Burgos’ frame and athleticism to be a great match to help prepare for a dynamic opponent like Kattar.
“His reach is really long,” Emmett said. “He has a great jab, Kattar has a great jab, great straight punches, and good boxing, so I reached out to him. … I usually use my teammate and friend Andre Fili – great look for a lot of opponents, but he had just fought and things like that. So, we reached out to Burgos and he was down for it.”
While Emmett may not know exactly what will unfold when the cage door locks inside the Moody Center, he does know he will be trying his best to end the show early and keep the judges out of the result. Once the dust settles, he plans to get his hand raised and position himself for a shot at the featherweight title.
“There’s gonna be violence, that’s for sure,” Emmett said. “He’s gonna be trying to take my head off, I’m gonna be doing the same thing with every strike I throw. I’m trying to finish the fight.”
