Calvin Kattar’s head coach explains why he didn’t throw in towel during Max Holloway fight

Tyson Chartier, the head coach behind UFC featherweight contender Calvin Kattar, has explained why he didn’t throw in the towel during his fighter’s lopsided decision loss to Max Holloway.

Holloway and Kattar met in the main event of UFC Fight Island 7 on January 16. Though Kattar entered the matchup with quite a bit of hype attached to his name, he was soundly beaten by the former featherweight champion over five rounds, absorbing north of 400 strikes the in process.

Given the lopsided and punishing nature of Kattar’s loss to Holloway, many fans were quick to question why his corner didn’t throw in the towel to stop the fight.

Speaking to MMA Fighting, Cartier cleared the air on that topic. He revealed that he considered stopping the fight, but every time he did, Kattar would surge back with some meaningful offense, renewing hope that he could win.

“It definitely did [get close to us stopping it],” Chartier stated, looking back on the Holloway vs. Kattar fight. “I’m sitting in the corner and every time things were getting really bad, Calvin’s back was to us, and we see Max, and we see Herb. There was a couple of times when we were like, ‘F*ck, is he gonna stop it?’ And I was hoping Herb would stop it. And then all of a sudden we saw he wasn’t going to stop it, we were like, ‘Should we throw in the towel?’ And then I’m thinking we’re gonna throw in the towel, and then Calvin would crack him. Then he would get off the fence and start landing shots. Like, damn it!

“The only way to describe it is that I was looking for a reason to stop it and every time I was about to, he would give us a reason not to. It’s a tough spot to be in because you have the make a judgement call in real time based on the facts that you’re presented,” the Kattar coach continued. “And, yeah, there was a couple of times I thought Herb was going to stop it, but he’s looking Calvin in the eye. I’m behind Calvin, so it’s like Herb has a better view than we do and Calvin is fighting back. He’s landing good shots.

“There was one point in the fourth round where I looked at Jake [Mainini], the Muay Thai coach, and I was like, ‘Dude, Max is getting tired.’ It was crazy because he was beating us up, but you could see it in his eyes like, ‘Ughh,’ and then he tried to wrestle, tried to take us down, he was getting tired from beating us up and then Calvin landed a good shot again and the round ended.”

It was an undeniably difficult situation for Chartier and Kattar’s other coaches. That being said, he has no patience for anybody suggesting he doesn’t have his fighters best interest in mind.

“The one thing I won’t tolerate is people thinking I don’t have Calvin’s well-being at the forefront of my mind the whole time,” Chartier said.

Do you think Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar should have been stopped?