Brad Katona wanted to be active in 2021 and that is exactly what is happening.
After a lost 2020 — a UFC release followed by a pandemic that wiped out his first planned return — the Winnipeg bantamweight has quietly rebuilt his schedule on the international circuit. Two BRAVE CF bookings in under five months is the kind of activity that turns a stalled career back into a moving one.
Katona (9-2), the 29-year-old from Winnipeg, Man., didn’t fight at all in 2020 after being released from the UFC and the pandemic canceling one of his fights. Yet, on April 1, he made his BRAVE CF debut and submitted Borislav Nikolic and after the win, he wanted a quick turnaround. He got his wish as he’ll face Bair Shtepin (9-4) in a bantamweight bout at BRAVE CF 53 on Saturday.
Katona's road back has gone through Bahrain rather than back to North America, which says something about where the opportunities are for released UFC fighters right now. BRAVE's global cards have made it the most visible non-major promotion on the circuit, and a quick turnaround there is real cage time against real opposition.
“I always plan for three fights a year and I’m on track to do that. I would’ve liked to be a couple of weeks earlier, but I can’t complain,” Katona said to MMA Empire.
“When I’m active and fighting three times a year, I think I’m at my best, so this is a perfect pace for me. Then, coming off a year of no fights, I’m just excited for the opportunity to compete again.”
Three fights a year is the pace most fighters say they want and almost none actually get — the gap between plan and reality is usually filled with injuries, bookings that fall through, and cards that get cancelled. That Katona is actually on pace in 2021, after the year every fighter lost, is itself a small victory.
If Katona gets his hand raised on Saturday, he says he plans to call for a title shot as he wants to prove he’s the best bantamweight alive.
The title talk isn't idle. Katona's already been through the UFC once — he knows what the level looks like and what it takes to stay there — and a BRAVE belt is one of the few regional trophies that actually gets a fighter's name back into major-promotion conversations.
“I hope this performance gets me a title shot. I’m world-class and it’s about time I have a world title. Getting that BRAVE world title is the next step and what I deserve,” Katona said.
Despite the fact Katona has only competed once in BRAVE, he says Shtepin was on his radar. They competed on the same card in April and the Canadian was impressed with his performance.
“He has fought some good guys, I know a decent amount about him,” Katona said.
“We fought on the same card at BRAVE 50 and he lost a decision, but to me, he was the better fighter in there. He’s dangerous, he has wrestling, spinning attacks, quick on his feet. This is someone I have to be sharp and focused for all 15 minutes.”
The respect is earned. Shtepin may have come up short on the same April card, but decision losses on regional cards tell you less about a fighter than how he fought — and Katona watching from the locker room clearly saw the dangerous version, not the scoreboard.
Against Shetpin, Katona knows his wrestling will be a difference-maker in the fight. However, the 29-year-old knows he is well-rounded and says he has only improved over the past couple of months at SBG Ireland.
The Dublin camp has been one of the more productive development environments for Canadian fighters in recent years — SBG's coaching structure around wrestling-heavy fighters is a known quantity, and two months of focused work there between fights is the kind of investment that shows up in the cage rather than on the record.
Although Katona knows he will use his wrestling in the fight, he says dictating where the fight takes place is what will get him his hand raised.
“I can’t just rely on taking him down. But, for me, he is very good when he gets in a groove and has momentum. I have to put my game on him right away, whether it’s striking or wrestling, and not let him get going,” Katona explained.
“Like any fight, I’ll go where the fight goes and I’m ready for whatever happens here.”
That adaptability is the honest version of the game plan. Against a fighter who gets dangerous when he builds momentum, the job is less about executing a specific finish than about never letting the fight settle into Shtepin's rhythm — and Katona's wrestling is the tool that breaks rhythm.
