Brad Katona from Canada is the only hunter in the UFC history that wins 'The Ultimate Fighter' twice.
Since its foundation in 2005, 'The Ultimate Fighter' Reality TV program has run and count 32 seasons, largely considered the most difficult tournament in sport. Depending on the season, the participants should fight and win 3-4 times within a few weeks to earn a UFC contract in the winner-all-alles final.
Various hunters have led the glove twice over the years, from earlier winners such as Joe Stevenson and Brad Katona, the UFC 315 star who wrote in more than one history before fighting Almakhan this Saturday.
Katona was not only the first to won 'The Ultimate Fighter' twice, he also did this with two different weight classes in season 27 and 31. Katona has the second most victories in the history of the show and is the first Canadian to win the show outside the “Tuf: Nations” format.
However, none of the win of Katona came simple, but, and were allowed to go 6-0 in the show with wars in both finals. Cameras everywhere, an isolated Katona spent a combined 12 weeks on 'The Ultimate Fighter' and lived with the people he was going to fight without contact from the outside world.
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Brad Katona won 'The Ultimate Fighter' again 3 years after UFC release
Katona won 'The Ultimate Fighter 27' in 2018 with victories over current Kyce Mitchell and Kyler Phillips. Not long after his crown, the TUF champion was 'ridiculously' released by the UFC of a 2-2 stint with one of those losses that came to Bantamweight King Merab Dvalishvili.
'The Ultimate Fighter 31', a seasonal veterans against prospects, brought back Katona for an opportunity to make the Tuf history.
'Superman' won his two fights in the house before he met Cody Gibson, a school teacher who just wanted to go to the UFC as he – and that turned out.
Gibson gave Katona one of his most difficult challenges so far when they collided in August 2023 at UFC 292, the same night, Same Night, Sean O'Malley won the title of Aljamain Sterling.
The bantam weight gave the fans a 'Fight of the Night' version with back and forth striking action over three rounds and not once the fight hit the ground.
Gibson and Katona exchanged a high output of bumps and were all tied in the third round with the fresher Katona Outlanding Gibson in the last frame to win through unanimous decision.
Cody Gibson won UFC contract and $ 50,000 bonus in defeat
As soon as UFC is Exiles, the life of Brad Katona and Cody Gibson were changed forever during the night they fought.
On top of a $ 50,000 bonus for one of the biggest final battles in the history of 'The Ultimate Fighter', Gibson received a UFC contract for his brave effort and grit.
Gibson had to fight nine times on the regional scene to get to the Radar of the UFC for a place on 'The Ultimate Fighter'. The promotion did their best for the school teacher and signed him a month shortly before his 36th birthday.
Surprisingly, this was not the first time in the 'Tuf' history where both finalists won contracts. In the premiere season of the show, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar set up an absolute Barnburner where the late Bonnar had earned a UFC contract with a loss.
Griffin vs. Bonnar I was generally considered 'the fight that the UFC saved' with the TV rating through the roof, a real turning point for the UFC that enters the mainstream.