“Timur Won That Fight”- Despite Losing to Conor McGregor’s Brad Katona, Michael Chandler’s Dagestani Fighter Receives Huge Support From UFC Fans

The 31st season of The Ultimate Fighter witnessed arguably the best fight of the season in episode 10. The bout took place between Brad Katona and Timur Valiev in the bantamweight semi-finals. It was a highly close affair and resulted in a split decision in favor of Katona. This paved the way for Conor McGregor to enjoy yet another victory from one of his team members after back-to-back losses. Before Katona’s victory, McGregor’s team had just won a single fight in the whole season.

Katona, who belonged to Michael Chandler‘s team, decided to move to the Irishman’s team to train under him. However, this was not much of a surprise, as Katona used to train with ‘The Notorious’ in the same gym in Ireland. Interestingly, ‘Superman’ is also the winner of the 27th season of The Ultimate Fighter, and now he has cemented his position in the bantamweight finals once again. However, some of the fans believe that he does not deserve to be there.

Too close to call- Brad Katona vs. Timur Valiev

The bout between Katona and Valiev was highly close, making it difficult to find the winner between the two. Katona dominated the first round of the bout on the feet; however, his opponent repeatedly went for takedown attempts and managed to cut him open.

The case was similar in the following rounds as well, Valiev continuously tried hard to attack Katona’s legs, while Katona tried to defend him through strikes. When all three rounds came to an end, a split decision declared Katona the winner. This was unacceptable to many, including Michael Chandler

READ MORE: Michael Chandler Warned Over Constant Conor McGregor “Mind Games”

. Chandler took to his Twitter handle to state that he totally disagreed with the decision. Similar to Chandler, a number of fans also felt that the Dagestani fighter should have won the bout.

The majority of the fans believe that it’s Valiev who won the bout

Considering the close bout, most of the fans felt that it was Valiev who dominated the fight. Even though Katona is a great fighter who was the bantamweight champion of Brave FC, the MMA crowd felt that it was the Dagestani fighter who deserved to win.

Similar reactions followed:

Both fighters fought neck-to-neck against each other, and one of the fans felt that it was Valiev who dominated rounds one and three. However, now it’s Katona who has found his way to the bantamweight finale.

The bout between Katona and Valiev was an electrifying spectacle where both fighters did their best. By the end of the ferocious battle, they were bathed in blood. The interesting showdown took the fans to the edge of their seats, and hence, one of the fans felt that they both deserved to fight in the UFC.

A fan acknowledged the ferocious fight between Timur and Katona and felt sad that their fight in TUF would not be considered a professional fight and the outcome would not go on their MMA record.

A fan felt that the bout could have easily gone either way, favoring Valiev or Katona.

After watching the spectacular fight put forward by Valiev, a fan felt that he would get a call from the UFC. On the other hand, Katona was a former UFC fighter who was released from the promotion after facing two consecutive losses.

From the reactions of the fans, it is clear that the majority believed that Valiev deserved to win the bout. A few of them felt that both of them deserved to get a contract in the UFC considering their thrilling fight.

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