Elias Theodorou is a mixed martial artist that prides himself on his cardio and ability to push the pace in his fights and the Mississauga, Ont., native was able to display those elements on the second episode of The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia.
Team Canada was riding high after Kajan Johnson was victorious in the first bout of the season and Theodorou was confident he could continue the momentum for his teammates and coaches.
So when Theodorou stepped into the cage against jiu-jitsu expert Zein Saliba, a lot was on the line including a spot in the semi-finals.
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THE FIGHT
As he does in all of his fights, Theodorou came out aggressively, threw a few jabs, kicks and elbows as he pressed forward.
Theodorou is a large middleweight, while Saliba typically competes at welterweight, so the Canadian was able to use his size and strength to his advantage and control Saliba along the cage.
Several times throughout the opening round, Theodorou slammed Saliba down to the ground hard.
In the second round, Theodorou was again able to control the action in the clinch and on the ground. Although Saliba attempted a rear-naked choke and armbar late in the frame, Theodorou was never in trouble throughout the bout.
Since it was a quarterfinal fight a third round was unnecessary since Theodorou won the first two rounds on all judges’ scorecards. He was awarded a two-round unanimous decision.
“I did whatever I wanted to do and even with a black belt I was able to be the dominant ground fighter,” Theodorou said following his win.
His coach and teammates were impressed with the performance.
“Elias is in such great shape was pushing the pace non stop and that was too much for Zein,” Team Canada coach Patrick Cote said after the fight. “In the first round he slammed him three times so that was really impressive.”
Power slams are a technique Theodorou has used effectively in several of his previous bouts.
“My last two opponents I broke their ribs and that’s how the fights stopped,” Theodorou told Sportsnet. “I just lifted them up and slammed them and then they quit. With that being said, my wrestling is actually the weakest part of my game it’s just my athleticism just allows me to do what I do in a dominating fashion.”
Despite the fight being relatively one sided, Saliba never stopped working for something positive.
“I had a couple opportunities, I didn’t capitalize on them,” Saliba said. “I just unfortunately didn’t have the wrestling to take him down and do what I wanted. Definitely a little disheartened but ready to go again.”
Team Australia coach Kyle Noke was mad after his squad’s second consecutive loss, but was not disappointed in his fighter.
“Zein could have done a few little things different,” Noke said. “It’s just experience and he’ll get there. The Canadian guys have like 10-plus fights to their records.”
Team Canada is now up 2-0 on Team Australia.
OUTSIDE THE OCTAGON
Taleb sets some ground rules
Team Canada’s Nordine Taleb brought his teammates together for a private meeting in the TUF house after he overheard some of them talking about their past to Team Australia.
Taleb suggested that all members of Team Canada refrain from talking too much strategy or history with the Australians.
The Tristar Gym product also wanted to make sure Team Australia kept up their end of the bargain when it came to keeping things tidy.
On the next episode
Since Team Canada won again, they retained control of fight selection and Cote chose for Chad Laprise to take on Team Australia’s Chris Indich in the second welterweight bout of the season.
