When mixed martial arts means as much to you as it does to Sheldon Westcott, you don’t let an injured knee get in the way of a dream.
The Team Canada middleweight hurt his knee in training, but persevered in an impressive performance against Dan Kelly on episode six of The Ultimate Fighter Nations.
“Since finding MMA, I’ve dedicated my life and dedicated everything I am to this sport,” Westcott said. “It is the most addicting sport; it’s so much fun, you learn so much about yourself and so much of what you’re made of that it’d be hard to think about if this sport wasn’t a part of my life. I love it. I absolutely eat, sleep and breath fighting.”
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Team Canada wanted to regain momentum after two straight losses to Team Australia, the latest being when Richard Walsh beat Matthew DesRoches.
Westcott, 29, has gone undefeated since losing his pro debut back in 2007 and trains out of Alberta.
Kelly possesses a 5-0 pro record in MMA, but his combat sport experience was greater than any athlete in the TUF house; the 36-year-old is a four-time Olympic judoka.
THE FIGHT
Five of Westcott’s eight pro wins have come within the first minute of the first round and his performance against Kelly showed why.
Westcott is athletic, aggressive, solid in the clinch and never stops working if the fight goes to the ground; all these attributes were on display against Kelly. He landed a stiff jab and several punches from the clinch right off the bat, tossed Kelly around with a couple big slams, fought off a brief kneebar attempt and locked in a head-and-arm choke that forced a tap less than 60 seconds into the first round.
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“This win for me is easily the biggest win of my career,” Westcott said. “Getting hurt as soon as I got here, you get a lot of doubt and you second guess yourself. You don’t stop when you’re tired. You don’t stop when you’re hurt. You stop when the job’s done and that’s how I was raised.”
It was the most impressive performance of the season from any fighter and the finishing move was something Westcott has drilled in the past.
“The crazy thing is he went for a kneebar on my hurt knee and I go for the head-and-arm from there, which was shown to me by my instructor back home at my gym, Guy Lefebvre, and I hit it today on the biggest fight of my life.”
Westcott explained that he was clam before the fight but a sudden adrenaline rush before entering the cage sent him into berserker mode.
“That was crazy. That was so violent and fast,” Team Canada coach Patrick Cote said.
The performance took many of the fighters by surprise.
“It was all over before anybody really knew what was going on,” Team Australia’s Vik Grujic said.
Canadian welterweight Olivier Aubin-Mercier added: “That was like a monster or something. That was crazy. He was so strong. That was really fun to watch. Really fun to watch.”
Westcott now joins Elias Theodorou and Tyler Manawaroa in the middleweight semifinals.
OUTSIDE THE OCTAGON
Aussies feel disrespected
Immediately after Sheldon’s win, Westcott’s teammates celebrated the dominant victory. However, Team Australia was upset with how Kajan Johnson and Sportsnet’s TUF Nations blogger Elias Theodorou showed their enthusiasm.
Australia coach Kyle Noke was upset with something Elias allegedly said about Dan Kelly and Noke expressed an interest in seeing Tyler Manawaroa fight Elias in the semis.
Laprise, Johnson fight over Walsh matchup
Team Canada welterweights Chad Laprise and Kajan Johnson both expressed an interest in fighting Richard Walsh in the next round.
“I think Chad’s a better fighter,” Walsh said. “It’s a better fight for the final.”
On the next episode
Team Canada’s Olivier Aubin-Mercier faces Team Australia’s Jake Matthews in the remaining welterweight quarterfinal matchup.
