When Conor McGregor made his way back into the UFC to feature on The Ultimate Fighter 31 for a second time as a coach, he had connections with a couple of fighters who were contestants on the show. One of them was a 21-fight veteran, Brad Katona, who’d go on to win the whole competition and win a UFC contract. However, his time competing in Dana White‘s promotion appears to have been short-lived.

Conor McGregor personally knew Brad Katona, who trains in the former double champion’s Straight Blast Gym in Dublin, Ireland. The 34-year-old would make history at the culmination of TUF 33 as a 2-time winner of the competition, having won it the first time during the 27th season of the show back in 2018. However, Katona’s success in The Ultimate Fighter did not help him in staying in Dana White’s good graces.

Brad Katona, after getting signed with the UFC following his first TUF win, saw him getting cut after winning two fights and then losing two as well. Then again, when he got re-signed to the promotion after his second TUF win, Katona could win only one fight, losing three in the process. But after suffering a devastating knockout defeat in his last fight against Bekzat Almakhan, Dana White decided to cut ties with Conor McGregor’s teammate as we inch closer to International Fight Week and UFC 317.

Well, Brad Katona is not alone as Dana White and Co. recently went on a firing spree. He joined the likes of Kron Gracie, Clay Guida, Jairzinho Rozenstruik, and even the legendary Holly Holm in departing the Las Vegas-based promotion, as both of Katona’s runs in the UFC turned out to be uneventful. He left with a record of 4 wins (including his TUF 27 win) and 5 losses in Dana White’s promotion. This may come as a surprise for many MMA enthusiasts, since the 34-year-old is the only fighter to win The Ultimate Fighter twice.

Well, fighters often get released, and Dana White may not like to have too many fighters signed to the UFC, especially those who find it hard to put out winning performances. Meanwhile, one of the UFC’s recently released fighters would learn about a medical condition after leaving the UFC.

A fighter released by Dana White learns about her tumor

UFC 316 was a bad day for a lot of UFC fighters. Not only did Sean O’Malley fail to secure a win, but a female fighter, Ariane da Silva, also failed to get a win, recording her third loss in a row. Having joined the UFC in 2019, ‘Queen of Violence’ had an underwhelming record of 6 wins and 8 losses in the promotion. So, after her last fight, Dana White added her to the list of departing fighters.

Prior to the fight, Ariane da Silva was having difficulties in cutting weight as she came into the fight six pounds over the flyweight limit against Wang Cong. This led to Dana White and Co. fining her with 30 percent of her payout at UFC 316. But in the wake of her release, da Silva found out that she had a small benign tumor in her brain, which her coach claimed to be the cause of her failed weight cut.

“We discovered a small benign tumor in her pituitary gland that was altering her hormone levels… I know her body. There was still something left there to cut, but at the same time, her reactions weren’t normal,” Ariane da Silva’s coach stated after UFC 316. “She wasn’t walking right, she was blinking too slow, she had double vision, and couldn’t focus; her voice sounded weak. She was giving us dangerous signs as she dropped weight.”

It’s always unfortunate to see fighters losing their chance to fight in the UFC since other promotions don’t really operate at the level Dana White’s promotion does. But do you think the CEO made the right move by removing a 2-time TUF winner from the roster? Let us know in the comments down below.