Aljamain Sterling envisions early submission of Calvin Kattar at UFC 300, but won't rush

Aljamain Sterling can picture taking out Calvin Kattar early.

Sterling (23-4 MMA, 15-4 UFC) meets Kattar (23-7 MMA, 7-5 UFC) in his featherweight debut at UFC 300 on April 13 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The former bantamweight champion has been able to take down the majority of his opponents, but won’t be seeking that right away – not until he gets accustomed to his new weight class during the fight.

“I feel like it could be first or second round if it were to get to that position,” Sterling said on submitting Kattar on his YouTube channel. “But honestly, I’m not going to go hunting for a takedown right out of the gate. I kind of want to get my feet wet a little bit, kind of like how (Deiveson Figueiredo) did. Just feel the power, feel the pushback, and then kind of go from there.

“Just feel the fight – let the fight come to me and not rush it. Do what I normally used to do – take my time and just see what comes to me, vs. trying to push the action to go on vacation. Now I’m out of vacation mode. I’m ready to scrap. I’m ready to compete. I got a burnout break, so I just feel like I have a fresh lease on my career.”

Kattar has only been submitted once in what was just his fourth professional fight in 2008. Meanwhile, Sterling has eight submissions on his resume, most recently a first-round rear-naked choke of top contender Cory Sandhagen in June 2020.