Middleweights Elias Theodorou and Sheldon Westcott and welterweights Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Chad Laprise set to meet in all-Canadian series finale
Toronto, Canada – The Ultimate Fighter® Nations: Canada vs. Australia returned on Wednesday night, with the final episode of the season and last middleweight semifinal elimination fight. Sheldon Westcott of St. Albert, Alb. secured his berth in the final with an impressive submission victory over the last Australian standing, Vik Grujic, to make it an all-Canadian finale.
Westcott will now face Toronto’s Elias Theodorou in the middleweight match-up, while Montrealer Olivier Aubin-Mercier will meet Chad Laprise of London, Ont. for the welterweight crown. Both The Ultimate Fighter winners will receive a lucrative six-figure contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) and fight for the honour of being the first-ever Canadian Ultimate Fighter.
The fighters will square off at The Ultimate Fighter® Nations Finale on Wednesday, April 16 at Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City. The middleweight and welterweight winners will be crowned live on Sportsnet 360 and TVA Sports in Canada, FOX Sports 1 in the US and FUEL TV in Australia.
A full recap is available at ufc.com and below are the season results at a glance:
Canada – coached by Patrick Côté – (20-8)
Welterweights
Olivier Aubin-Mercier (2-0, defeated Jake Matthews by UD in episode 7, submitted Richard Walsh in episode 11)
Matthew Desroches (0-1, lost a UD to Richard Walsh in episode 5)
Kajan Johnson (1-1, submitted Brendan O’Reilly in episode 1, TKO’d by Chad Laprise in episode 9)
Chad Laprise (2-0, defeated Chris Indich by UD in episode 3, TKO win over Kajan Johnson in episode 9)
Middleweights
Luke Harris (0-1, TKO’d by Vik Grujic in episode 8)
Nordine Taleb (0-1, lost a UD to Tyler Manawaroa in episode 4)
Elias Theodorou (2-0, defeated Zein Saliba by UD in episode 2, defeated Tyler Manawaroa by UD in episode 10)
Sheldon Westcott (2-0, TKO’d Daniel Kelly in episode 6, tapped out Vik Grujic in episode 12)
Australia – coached by Kyle Noke – (20-6-1)
Welterweights
Chris Indich (0-1, lost a UD to Chad Laprise in episode 3)
Jake Matthews (0-1, lost a UD to Olivier Aubin-Mercier in episode 7)
Brendan O’Reilly (0-1, submitted by Kajan Johnson in episode 1)
Richard Walsh (1-1, defeated Matthew Desroches by UD in episode 5, submitted by Olivier Aubin-Mercier in episode 11)
Middleweights
Vik Grujic (1-1, TKO’d Luke Harris in episode 8, tapped to a choke from Sheldon Westcott in episode 12)
Daniel Kelly (0-1, lost via TKO to Sheldon Westcott in episode 6)
Tyler Manawaroa (1-1, defeated Nordine Taleb by UD in episode 4, lost a UD to Elias Theodorou in episode 10)
Zein Saliba (0-1, lost a UD to Elias Theodorou in episode 2)
Four other cast members will also be making their return on the Finale card. Aussie teammates Richard Walsh of Sydney and Chris Indich of Perth, WA will square off in a welterweight bout, while middleweight veteran Vik Grujic of Melbourne will meet Montreal’s Nordine Taleb. The full fight card is available below.
Meanwhile, cast member Kajan Johnson of Montreal will make his UFC debut in a lightweight fight against Korea’s Tae Hyun Bang at UFC® 174 on June 14 in Vancouver.
Tickets for The Ultimate Fighter® Nations Finale are on sale now through billetech.com and are priced at $250, $150, $100, $75, $50 and $40 (not including applicable service charges).
For more show information, visit ultimatefighter.com and follow us on Twitter @UltimateFighter or on Facebook.com/TUF.
For more information or current fight news, visit ufc.com. All bouts live and subject to change.
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UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Kennedy
Colisée Pepsi
Quebec City, Canada
Saturday, April 16, 2014
Bantamweight Bout 3 Rounds
Tim Gorman vs Mitch Gagnon
Welterweight Bout 3 Rounds
Chris Indich vs Richard Walsh
Middleweight Bout 3 Rounds
Vik Grujic vs Nordine Taleb
Lightweight Bout 3 Rounds
Mike de la Torre vs Mark Bocek
Bantamweight Bout 3 Rounds
Dustin Kimura vs George Roop
Light Heavyweight Bout 3 Rounds
Sean O’Connell vs Ryan Jimmo
Women's Bantamweight Bout 3 Rounds
Leslie Smith vs Sarah Kaufman
Lightweight Bout 3 Rounds
KJ Noons vs Sam Stout
Featherweight Bout 3 Rounds
Akira Corassani vs Dustin Poirier
Welterweight Final 3 Rounds
Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs Chad Laprise
Middleweight Final 3 Rounds
Elias Theodorou vs Sheldon Westcott
Welterweight Bout 3 Rounds
Kyle Noke vs Patrick Cote
Middleweight Bout 5 Rounds
Tim Kennedy vs Michael Bisping
ALL BOUTS LIVE AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE
About the Ultimate Fighting Championship®
Owned and operated by Zuffa, LLC, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC®) is the premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization and largest pay-per-view event provider in the world. Headquartered in Las Vegas with offices in London, Toronto, Beijing, Singapore and Sao Paulo, UFC produces more than 40 live events annually that consistently sell-out some of the most prestigious arenas around the globe. UFC programming is broadcast in over 145 countries to 800+ million TV households worldwide in 28 different languages. In Canada, the UFC has broadcast agreements with Sportsnet 360 and TVA Sports, which includes live events broadcasts, The Ultimate Fighter® reality television show and thousands of hours of programming. In 2014, UFC launched UFC FIGHT PASS™, a digital subscription service with exclusive live events, thousands of fights on-demand and original content. The UFC organization also licenses over 100 UFC GYM® locations, and owns UFC.TV® (offering live event broadcasts and video on-demand around the world), UFC FIT™ (an in-home fitness and nutrition program), UFC Magazine, and has a videogame franchise with EA SPORTS, UFC Fight Club®, UFC Fan Expo®, Octagon™ branded apparel, best-selling DVDs and Blu-rays and Topps Trading Cards. For more information, visit www.ufc.ca and follow UFC at www.facebook.com/UFCCanada and Twitter: @UFC_CA.
