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UFC 231 winner Brad Katona happy to be 'in the clique' of dorkiest fighters

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TORONTO – Brad Katona embraces all sides of his personality, especially the side that some might label as “dorky.”

Katona (8-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC), who remained unbeaten in his MMA career on Saturday with a unanimous-decision victory over Matthew Lopez (10-4 MMA, 2-4 UFC) at UFC 231, might not come across like the prototypical fighter. He doesn’t mind that, though.

“It’s tough to say I’m the dorkiest (in the UFC),” Katona told reporters, including MMAjunkie, post-fight at UFC 231. “Because there is some hardcore like, anime fans, and I don’t know if I’m the dorkiest, but I’m in the clique at least. There’s a group of us who are big dorks (like Israel Adesanya and Roxanne Modafferi) or whatever you want to call us. The glasses-pushers.”

Katona’s personal interests have not held him back from thriving in a physical sport like MMA, though. He won Season 27 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series and picked up a solid win in his sophomore octagon effort when he handled Lopez to a decision at UFC 231.

The fight was won on points by Katona, but he thought he deserved a submission finish on his record. He got Lopez in a deep choke in the final seconds of the round, and when the horn sounded to end the fight, Katona thought his opponent was out.

“I knew it was the end of the fight, but he couldn’t answer the final bell,” Katona said. “The ref had to help him out multiple times. Even then he picked him once and then he was stumbling, then he picked him up again and he was stumbling. Finally they got him to a stool. To me that’s every sign of him not answering that final bell. I think it would have been a stoppage win, but I got the decision and got to show I’m looking for that finish up until the end of the fight.”

To hear more from Katona post-fight at UFC 231, watch the video above.

For complete coverage of UFC 231, check out the UFC Events section of the site.

Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.

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