Jay Cucciniello had a nice underdog story going, as a fighter who lost in the first round of The Ultimate Fighter 27, then got a second chance as a substitute and made it to Friday night’s TUF 27 Finale.
But Brad Katona (7-0) was simply the better fighter at the Pearl Theatre in Las Vegas on Friday. The Team Cormier competitor controlled the action throughout and ended Cucciniello’s Cinderella run to win the TUF 27 featherweight tournament. The judges’ scores were 30-26 across the board for a unanimous decision.
“It means the world, I started on this journey when I was 14 years old,” said Katona, a Winnipeg native who trains with the famed SBG team in Dublin.