Gibson (19-8 MMA, 1-3 UFC) butted heads with Team Michael Chandler teammate Katona (12-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC), who was also part of the veteran bantamweight squad on Season 31 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Gibson finished Team Conor McGregor prospects Mando Gutierrez and Rico DiSciullo to punch his ticket to the final, whereas Katona defeated Carlos Vera and fellow former UFC fighter Timur Valiev by decision for his spot. The pair will fight on Saturday’s UFC 292 main card at TD Garden in Boston to crown the “TUF 31” bantamweight tournament winner, and Gibson won’t find it hard to punch his teammate.
“Brad, I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt early on in the show. He was my roommate,” Gibson told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during Wednesday’s UFC 292 media day. “But there were just things he did that were very self-centered, that hurt other people and benefitted him. The editing of the show didn’t necessarily go into all of that stuff, so there’s some context missing in some of his stuff, but yeah, he’s not my favorite guy.
“But at the end of the day, I’ve studied his film, I studied his movement, we looked at areas we can exploit. I don’t really take too much emotion into the fight. I’ve learned this lesson in over 15 years of doing this. So yeah, I’m not going to have any issues or reservations punching him in the face for sure, but it’s just another opponent.”
Gibson does credit Katona for outlasting Valiev in an entertaining scrap – even though he thought he lost. Other than that, he doesn’t find his style of fighting appealing at all.
“He actually showed some heart in his semifinals fight,” Gibson continued. “He bit down on his mouth piece. That was a great fight. I actually thought he lost that fight, but it was a close fight. But he showed he can fight when he’s forced to. But when you go back and watch his film, it was one of the most boring film studies I’ve ever seen. He just holds guys against the cage, eventually tries to drag them to the ground and then hold them.
“He’s not trying to do a lot of damage, he’s trying to kill time on the clock. I think personally that’s why he was cut from the UFC originally. He’s just not the most exciting guy. He’s very calculated. I respect the fact that he’s good at what he does, but I think he’s going to have a hard time dragging me to the ground. He’s going to have a hard time dealing with my length, and I see myself landing something clean and putting him away.”
UFC 292 takes place Saturday at TD Garden in Boston. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ABC/ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 292.
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