Brad Katona and Jesse Butler at the UFC Louisville weigh-in. Photo credit: Youtube/UFC
Brad Katona, nicknamed “The Multi-Mate Fighter,” won two seasons of The Ultimate Fighters and will be looking to bounce back from a hometown loss to Garrett Armfield when he takes on Jesse Butler at UFC Louisville on Saturday.
Katona, who trains at SBG Ireland alongside Conor McGregor and other big names, won both seasons 27 and 31 of The Ultimate Fighter to become the first and only double TUF champion in UFC history, while Butler went 0-1 with the promotion after taking on veteran Jim Miller on short notice.
The bout started with Butler quickly making his move with his kick and reach advantage. Katona quickly looked to get inside with punches. A few seconds into the round, Katona caught a kick and landed an overhand shot that sent his opponent to the canvas. Katona got into Butler’s closed guard and landed some good short strikes to the body. In the middle of the round, Katona still held the advantage on the ground, despite boos from the crowd. For the remainder of the round, Brad expertly maintained his advantage on the ground and continued to do some damage. Then, just before the end of the round, Butler got to his feet, but received a nice knee from Katona in the process.
The second round began with Jesse landing a powerful right punch. Butler landed an inept body kick that Katona caught and scored a takedown. Katona again got into Butler’s closed guard and cracked Jesse with some powerful elbow strikes. In the middle of the round, Katona blocked multiple butterfly sweeps from his opponent. Brad briefly got into side control and delivered some heavy ground-and-pound before Butler regained full guard. With under a minute left in the round, Butler desperately tried to get to his feet. Butler attempted a kimura lock but missed, and time expired.
The final round started with some solid stand-up action. Butler seemed to heed his corner’s advice between rounds and only threw punches. Katona dodged Butler’s long jabs and landed some nice leg kicks on the outside. As the two fighters continued to move around the cage, Katona landed two nice overhand rights. As the pace of the fight started to pick up in the middle of the round, Katona landed some more overhands. Butler regained his composure and landed several consecutive kicks before losing his footing. Katona came out on top in the middle of the Octagon and delivered some slick, brutal ground-and-pound that nearly ended the bout as the final gong sounded.
Official result: Brad Katona defeats Jesse Butler by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 20-27)
