Chad Laprise is a devout Christian with a righteous mixed martial arts skill set.
On episode three of TUF Nations, Laprise displayed his faith and fighting ability in a unanimous decision win over Chris Indich as Team Canada took a 3-0 lead over Team Australia.
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In addition to training at the Tristar Gym in Montreal, Laprise is a standout from Team Tomkins in London, Ont., and a teammate of UFC veterans Sam Stout and Mark Hominick. Just like Stout and Hominick, Laprise (7-0) is famous for his striking and that was on full display against Indich, a solid grappler known for his toughness.
THE FIGHT
The story of this welterweight quarterfinal bout was Laprise’s ability to beat Indich to the punch. Literally.
In the first round, Laprise found his range and busted Indich open from a distance.
“Chad came in the first round really strong. We wanted him to use his boxing skills and that’s exactly what he did. Nice jab, a lot of in-and-out footwork, he used his speed,” Team Canada coach Patrick Cote said. “The difference was the accuracy of Chad.”
In the second round it was more of the same, although Indich did begin to land some strikes of his own. The fight never went to the ground and Laprise finished what would be the final round by landing two spinning kicks to a bloody and bruised Indich.
“I knew he was a good jiu-jitsu guy and I thought he was going to be relentless trying to take me down when he realized I would be better on the feet,” Laprise said. “He tried one takedown and i was able to stuff him and then he tried to bang with me. He’s super tough. All the respect in the world to Chris. He clipped me with a couple clean shots too. Great guy.”
Despite coming out on the losing end, Indich gained the respect of Team Canada for going the distance with a fighter of Laprise’s calibre.
“I don’t think I landed enough punches. I didn’t get enough head movement in,” an emotional Indich said. “Maybe if I moved my head a bit more and avoided a few more jabs and come in and got him then he might have some stitches too.”
Though the fight didn’t go to a third round it was competitive throughout, which was something Team Australia coach Kyle Noke was proud of.
“Chris was happy to stand with him. He said he was happy to test him out on the feet. Chad was beating him to the punch every time,” Noke said. “He finally found his rhythm and started landing hard shots on him. It was a close fight. Obviously i’m going to be a little biased towards my guy (but) I thought it was a great fight and thought it should have went to a third round.”
OUTSIDE THE OCTAGON
A traitor in the midst?
Jonathan Chaimberg is one of the most renowned trainers involved in MMA today — he trains many huge UFC stars and several of the Tristar fighters on Team Canada — was a guest trainer for Team Australia. That rubbed Cote and several Canadians the wrong way.
“The problem with Jon Chaimberg is he’s thinking about himself,” Cote said. “He came to get his air time and he got it. I hope he’s happy.”
Tyler gets under Nordine’s skin
Tyler Manawaroa is one of the hottest young MMA prospects in Australia and he’s not afraid to aggravate potential opponents. Manawaroa attempted to annoy and wake up Team Canada by blowing a didgeridoo early and often in the TUF house.
Nordine Taleb was especially irritated by Tyler’s actions.
“Vengeance is going to be terrible,” Taleb said. “I’m the last person you want to mess with.”
On the next episode
Since Team Canada won again, they retained control of fight selection and Cote chose for Taleb to take on Manawaroa in the second middleweight bout of the season.
“It’s going to be one of the bloodiest fights you’ll ever see,” Cote said.
