Why does Canadian Brad Katona have a "fake" Irish accent? Conor McGregor's teammate explained the bizarre origins 

Brad Katona recently defeated Carlos Vera on the fifth episode of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 31. Katona is well-known in the UFC winning TUF 27 and subsequently earning the coveted UFC contract. However, the Canadian is also known for his confusing accent.

Katona is currently representing Michael Chandler's team in the TUF season 31, while outside the show, he trains at Straight Blast Gym (SBG) in Ireland, which is home to UFC star Conor McGregor. Although it might have been challenging for Katona to represent McGregor's rival team, his emotions didn't affect his performance as he comfortably secured a unanimous decision victory.

The Canadian mixed martial artist has been questioned in the past for his Irish accent. However, Katona asserted at the TUF 27 media day that he's not "faking" his accent, while also discussing its origin. According to Katona:

"I'm not faking anything. Watch an interview with me from a year ago and I talk very similar. Maybe something's slightly changed... But I hear interviews from me now and nothing's changed. I've just always talked like this my entire life."

Katona added:

"When I was young, I would point at things and my brother would talk for me. I didn't develop speech like the rest of the kids. I went to speech therapy and then I came up talking like this [with] this fake Irish accent."

Catch Brad Katona's comments below (2:56):

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SBG head coach rescued himself from helping Carlos Vera against Brad Katona

Brad Katona trains with renowned MMA coach John Kavanagh at the Straight Blast Gym facility in Ireland. However, Kavanagh faced a challenging situation when Carlos Vera, a member of Conor McGregor's team, was slated to compete against Katona, who represents the rival team on TUF 31.

Kavanagh, who coaches Katona outside of the show, made it clear beforehand that he would not be assisting any fighter to prepare against 'Superman'. Kavanagh stated in episode 5 of The Ultimate Fighter season 31:

"A little bit of drama there with Brad Katona ending up on the other team. It feels like it’s a bad movie. But look, at the end of the day, he’s here to do a job. There’s only one winner in the bantamweight division and Brad is aiming for that to be him.”

Conor McGregor, meanwhile, was not pleased with the result, asserting that the fight should have been a three-round fight. He lashed out at Michael Chandler, while also presenting his case to UFC president Dana White.