The finalised ‘TUF Nations: Australia vs Canada’ finale card was officially announced today following the show’s final episode yesterday on the FX channel.
The lineup for the April 16 event, which takes place at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City, Canada, has been bolstered by 3 Australian additions with Vik Grujic, Chris Indich and Richard Walsh all receiving call ups. Grujic meets Nordine Talib while Indich and Walsh will face off against each other.
A middleweight grudge match between Michael Bisping (24-5) and Tim Kennedy (17-4) will serve as the main event, while in the co-main event, TUF Nations coaches Kyle Noke (20-6-1) (Team Australia) and Patrick Cote (19-8) (Team Canada) will go head to head in a welterweight tilt. The middleweight final will see Canadians Sheldon Westcott (8-1) and Elias Theodorou (8-0) clash, and in what will be another all Canadian affair, Chad Laprise (7-0) and Olivier Aubin-Mercier (4-0) meet in the welterweight final.
After stopping Luke Harris by TKO in the middleweight quarterfinals, Grujic (6-2) fell short of a finals birth in yesterday’s episode, losing by submission in the opening round to Sheldon Westcott. The 37 year-old fighter from Melbourne will meet Nordine Talib (8-2), who suffered a quarterfinals exit at the hands of Tyler Manawaroa.
Richard Walsh (7-1) earned a welterweight semifinals birth against Olivier Aubin-Mercier with a unanimous points decision win over Matthew Desroches. He was later denied a spot in the final with Aubin-Mercier submitting the Aussie in the first frame. Twenty six year-old Chris Indich (6-1) of WA was outpointed in the quaterfinals by eventual finalist Chad Laprise.
Fight Card:
- Michael Bisping vs Tim Kennedy
- Patrick Cote vs Kyle Noke
- Elias Theodorou vs Sheldon Westcott – Middleweight Final
- Olivier Aubin-Mercier vs Chad Laprise -Welterweight Final
- Akira Corassani vs Dustin Poirier
- K.J. Noons vs Sam Stout
- Sarah Kaufman vs Leslie Smith
- Ryan Jimmo vs Sean O’Connell
- Dustin Kimura vs George Roop
- Mark Bocek vs Mike De La Torre
- Vik Grujic vs Nordine Taleb
- Chris Indich vs Richard Walsh
- Mitch Gagnon vs Tim Gorman
