Katona goes through his prep, explaining in a confessional interview that he’s a very cerebral fighter that makes reads and adjustments from fight-to-fight while working on grappling drills with Sean Soriano and Robert Drysdale.
He breaks down Vera, suggesting that what makes him good is that he knows himself as a competitor, knows his style.
“I think this will be a hard fight to finish in the two rounds, but I believe I have the cardio advantage, the striking advantage, and the grappling advantage,” he offers.
Chandler highlights leg locks and Vera’s guillotine as dangers, but praises Katana’s Fight IQ and overall sharpness, getting excited about the possibility of Team Chandler sweeping the opening rounds of the competition.
TUF HOUSE
Katona and Team McGregor’s Lee Hammond, who also trains at SBG Ireland, sit around discussing how the Winnipeg native landed at the Dublin gym, with Katona explaining that he and his girlfriend, who is also a fighter, liked what Kavanagh had to say as they were exploring things.
It’s been six years since Katona moved to Dublin, which he acknowledges is tough because he’s away from family and friends, but praises the nature and varied landscapes of Ireland as being a stark difference from growing up in The Prairies as his home video runs.
Highlights from his brief UFC tenure roll, showing his fight with Matthew Lopez at UFC 231 in Toronto, which he won by unanimous decision, before losing back-to-back fights to Merab Dvalishvili and his current Team Chandler teammate Hunter Azure and being released.
He remembers the day he was released, admitting he cried the whole way home, before playfully asking whether he would be known as “The Ultimate Ultimate Fighter” or “The Multimate Fighter” should he win the competition this season.
