Superman returns to Canada, Brad Katona takes on Dvalishvili in Ottawa
The UFC returns to Canada this weekend when UFC Fight Night 151 takes place at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa Ontario. One of the fights on the main card that will grab many Canadians attention is TUF winner Brad Katona against Merab Dvalishvili. Katona the winner of The Ultimate Fighter Season 27 will be looking to keep his undefeated record (8-0) intact.
Katona was born and raised in Winnipeg Canada, when most kids took up ice hockey as their main sport Katona opted for karate at just the age of 5 earning his blackbelt at 14. Katona’s father an MMA fan soon signed his son up to Winnipeg Academy of MMA where he began learning Jiu Jitsu. Katona continued his training throughout high school and college while obtaining a mechanical engineering degree. Katona has cited his engineering background in helping him with training
“an engineer knows how to solve problems and that’s what everyday in the training room is”
After completing college Katona decided it was time to throw himself into MMA fulltime and in November 2017 along with his girlfriend they decided to move to the world renown Straight Blast Gym in Dublin under the guidance of coach John Kavanagh and of course home to a certain Conor McGregor.
Since moving to Dublin Katona has gone onto to win The Ultimate Fighter Season 27 becoming the first Canadian to do so, also becoming the first member of team SBG to hold such a title. Katona followed the TUF finale win up with a win over Matthew Lopez at UFC 231 via decision.
Coach Kavanagh has recently stated that Katona is someone he tells all his up and comers to study,
“Brad is a fighter I tell my up and comers to study, technically proficient on all areas and just does the fundamentals correctly”
With many fighters taking the route of trash talking and flashy clothes Katona is quite the opposite, instead of trying to gain attention through the above Katona is old fashioned in the sense he lets his hard work and fighting speak for themselves. Afterall, it is this hard work that has led the Canadian to an undefeated MMA record, a blackbelt in BJJ and the first Canadian to win TUF, not bad eh?
Katona will look to continue his climb in the bantamweight division this weekend when he faces Merab Dvalishvili, a win will move the Canadian to 9-0 and a possible top 15 ranked fight next.
Writer/Interviewer
Twitter: @ciaranoflynn2
