Canada’s Brad Katona is the only fighter in UFC history to win ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ twice.
Since its inception in 2005, ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ reality TV show has ran for 32 seasons and counting, largely considered as the toughest tournament in sports. Depending on the season, contestants would have to fight and win 3-4 times in a matter of weeks to earn a UFC contract in the winner-take-all finale.
Several fighters over the years have ran the gauntlet twice, from past winners like Joe Stevenson and Brad Katona, the UFC 315 star who has made history in more ways than one before fighting Bekzat Almakhan this Saturday.
Not only did Katona become the first to win ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ twice, he did so at two different weight classes on season 27 and 31. Katona has the second-most wins in the show’s history and is the first Canadian to win the show outside of the ‘TUF: Nations’ format.
Neither of Katona’s tournament wins came easy, however, having to go 6-0 on the show with wars in both finales. Cameras everywhere, an isolated Katona spent a combined 12 weeks on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ living with the people he was going to fight with no contact from the outside world.
Brad Katona won ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ again 3 years after UFC release
Katona won ‘The Ultimate Fighter 27’ in 2018 with wins over current contenders Bryce Mitchell and Kyler Phillips. Not long after his crowning moment, the TUF champion was ‘ridiculously’ released by the UFC off of a 2-2 stint with one of those losses coming to bantamweight king Merab Dvalishvili.
‘The Ultimate Fighter 31’, a season pitting veterans against prospects, brought back Katona for a chance to make TUF history.
‘Superman’ won his two fights in the house before he met Cody Gibson, a school teacher who wanted back in to the UFC as much as he did—and it showed.
Gibson gave Katona one of his toughest challenges to date when they collided at UFC 292 in Aug. 2023, the same night Sean O’Malley won the title from Aljamain Sterling.
The bantamweight gave the fans a ‘fight of the night’ performance with back-and-forth striking action across three rounds and not once did the fight hit the ground.
Trading a high output of punches, Gibson and Katona were all tied up heading into the third round with the fresher Katona outlanding Gibson in the final frame to win by unanimous decision.
Cody Gibson won UFC contract and $50,000 bonus in defeat
Once UFC exiles, the lives of Brad Katona and Cody Gibson were forever changed the night they fought.
On top of a $50,000 bonus for one of the greatest finale fights in ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ history, Gibson was awarded a UFC contract for his valiant effort and grit.
Gibson had to fight nine times on the regional scene to get on the UFC’s radar for a spot on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. The promotion went out of their way for the school teacher, signing him one month short of his 36th birthday.
Surprisingly, this wasn’t the first time in ‘TUF’ history where both finalists won contracts. In the show’s premiere season, Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar put on an absolute barnburner which saw the late Bonnar earn a UFC contract off of a loss.
Griffin vs. Bonnar I was widely regarded as ‘the fight that saved the UFC’ with the TV ratings through the roof, a true turning point for the UFC entering the mainstream.