Brad Katona Disappointed With the UFC After They Released Him From Contract

The UFC released the Ultimate Fighter season 27 winner, Brad Katona (UFC 2-2), in February. He still doesn’t seem to have understood behind his departure. ‘Superman’ Katona said, “It was a surprise. It was a little bit of like, ‘Are you serious?’ I don’t have much to say about it besides it was disappointing.”

Season 27 of TUF featured two weight divisions, i.e. featherweight and lightweight. Katona was part of the featherweight bracket, and the coaches were heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and #1 contender Daniel Cormier.

The Ultimate Fighter is a UFC reality series where selected MMA fighters compete for a UFC contract under the guidance of top MMA fighters. As part of ‘Team Cormier’, Katona defeated Jay Cucciniello in the final. However, after his back-to-back unanimous decision losses to Merab Dvalishvili and Hunter Azure, the UFC parted ways with him.

Katona was quite vocal about how he felt he was treated and said, “I went from winning the two fights in the house against two guys who are now signed to the UFC, undefeated in the UFC, besides me I guess, but those are exhibitions, so those don’t count. It seems like they discounted those two fights in the house pretty quickly.”

What does the future have in store for Brad Katona?

Katona signed a multi-fight contract with the German promotion Elite MMA Championship (EMC). He will challenge the organization’s reigning bantamweight champion later this month.

The Canadian fighter said, “The goal is to keep beating top competition that I’ve done in my entire career, and if the UFC wants me, we’ll go that route, and if somebody else wants me, we’ll go that route,” Katona said. “I’m at a position right now where I just want to show what I have to offer, and this is the perfect stage to do it… I have 25 minutes to show really my skill set and why I believe I am a draw and a future star.”

‘Superman’ has wins against the likes of Bryce Mitchell and still aims to be a top-level elite fighter. Furthermore, he is yet to close the doors on a return to the UFC. The road back will be challenging, and he will hope to find success quickly as he steps into the cage at EMC. 

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