This past season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), dubbed "Nations", featured a "rivalry" pitting Canada against Australia in two separate tournaments in the welterweight (170-pounds) and middleweight (185-pounds) divisions. The Canadians dominated, advancing four fighters to the finals in each of the brackets, set to take place at the live Finale tonight (Wed., April 16, 2014) in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on Fox Sports 1.
At welterweight, hard-hitting christian Chad Laprise battled Olivier Aubin-Mercier.
Laprise was working his stand-up game early, and finding great success with it. Still, Aubin-Mercier managed to open a cut under his opponent's left eye. The opening frame wasn't as close as it may have looked, what with Laprise confounding his foe with great movement.
The second round saw Aubin-Mercier earn a takedown early, seeing it as his avenue to victory. Still, Laprise managed to get back to his feet, avoiding a submission along the way, and get back to working his game.
The story in round three was the same. Early takedown followed by a reset standing followed by a striking battle that Laprise always seemed to be getting the better of, though Aubin-Mercier had some successes.
Ultimately, they went the distance and the judges awarded the decision to Laprise on scores of 28-29, 29-28, 30-27.
At middleweight, Sheldon Wescott looked to continue his run of submission finishes against Elias Theodorou.
These two were eager to get after it, rushing to the cage and running just as fast to meet each other in the center when the referee prompted as much. Wescott snagged a takedown and get Theodorou's back within the first couple minutes and it appeared as though the submission story would continue.
Then, just like that, Elias dropped Sheldon off his back and started throwing blows. He finished strong down the stretch and had evened things out at the close of the round.
At the start of the second, Theodorou used his power to pick Wescott up and dump him down multiple times. To combat this, Sheldon jumped a guillotine but it failed quickly and the commentary team immediately wondered if his gas tank was running near empty.
Their suspicions seemed to be confirmed when Theodorou let loose with an onslaught of knees that Wescott had no answer for. He refused to let up and, after a prolonged beating, the referee stepped in to stop it.
Theodorou wins via TKO in round two.
For complete TUF: "Nations" Finale results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the night's action click here.