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 Brad Katona of Canada poses on the scale during the UFC 297 ceremonial weigh-in at Scotiabank Arena on January 19, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
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Brad Katona: ‘Just Let It Fly’

Two-Time The Ultimate Fighter Winner Brad Katona Returns To UFC APEX To Take On Undefeated Prospect Jean Matsumoto At UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Pereira

UFC bantamweight Brad Katona is no stranger to the APEX, despite never competing there as an active fighter in the promotion.

Last summer, Katona won back-to-back fights in the venue on The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 to cement his place in the finale. At UFC 292 in Boston, he defeated Cody Gibson to become the first two-time winner in TUF history. 

The 32-year-old Canadian has since competed inside the Octagon twice in 2024. He suffered his first setback in three years in January, dropping a decision to Garrett Armfield. He rebounded well in June, defeating Jesse Butler decisively to get back in the win column. While amassing over 10 minutes of control time and outstriking his opponent 2:1 through 15 minutes sounds like a performance to be proud of, Katona feels he should’ve done more to accurately represent he and his coaches’ hard work in the lead-up.

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“There’s some moments in that fight that just shouldn’t have happened and that’s on me, so there’s a lot of responsibility you have to take,” Katona said. “You have to take ownership. There were moments there where my coaches coached me better than that. Over the weeks, we prepared exactly not to do that. So, the big thing was some accountability on it where you can’t point the finger. Yes, we did get the result, and I was happy I got a win, but I know I’m capable of more and that’s on me.”

As is the case after most combat sports competitions, Katona walked away from the fight with a handful of nagging injuries. Rather than returning home, Katona took his time to recover at the UFC Performance Institute, and focused a lot of his energy on strength and conditioning to help not only recover, but hopefully prevent these injuries from recurring in the future. 

Brad Katona of Canada punches Garrett Armfield in a bantamweight bout during the UFC 297 event at Scotiabank Arena on January 20, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
Brad Katona of Canada punches Garrett Armfield in a bantamweight bout during the UFC 297 event at Scotiabank Arena on January 20, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

On Katona’s first day back in the gym, he received a call from the UFC with an offer on the table for a fight in October, which would make it his third fight in 10 months. Having felt “surprisingly healthy” after his time at the PI, Katona didn’t hesitate to sign the contract.

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This has been a busy year,” Katona said. “This is my third fight in nine months. That’s a fight every three months, and it feels like I was just kinda doing this and I think that’s a good thing. I’ve never been quite this active, so we’ll see, but I think it’s a good thing.”

This Saturday at UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Pereira, Katona will fight undefeated prospect Jean Matsumoto. The 15-0 Brazilian earned his UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in September of last year and submitted Dan Argueta in his UFC debut in April. While no other opponent has been able to stop him before, this isn’t Katona’s first rodeo against an unbeaten fighter.

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“He’s a good fighter but name me a UFC bantamweight that’s not a good fighter,” Katona said. “It’s a stacked division. He’s 15-0. I’m no stranger to fighting undefeated guys, though. My first time doing TUF it was all undefeated guys. To be honest, I think I’m quite the step up in competition for him. Do I think I’ve beaten better fighters than him? I believe so, but that’s no disrespect to him. He’s an up-and-coming prospect, we don’t really know how good he is. He looked good on Contender Series, and then I thought against Dan Argueta, he looked okay, he looked human.”

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Katona believes all he needs to do to get his hand raised this Saturday is trust what he and his coaches have been working on throughout camp, and don’t let the pressure of getting his hand raised limit what he’s willing to experiment with in the Octagon. 

“I just want to be free out there,” Katona said. “A big motto of this training camp has been, ‘eff it.’ After the Armfield fight, I’ve realized fighting’s not a big deal. And all I mean by that is getting hit is just pain, and it’s not even like bad pain, it’s just pain. For whatever reason your body just shies away from it. Just embrace it. Eff it. Just go out there and be free and let it go and just put everything out there and not hold onto the result, not try to protect anything, just go out there and screw it and let it fly.”

UFC Fight Night: Hernandez vs Pereira, live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 19, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!