The fourth episode of The Ultimate Fighter Nations took place on Wednesday, and the show featured a middleweight bout between two of the top fighters in the tournament with Australia’s Tyler Manawaroa taking on Canada’s Nordine Taleb.
The reality show started off with Chris Indich, who lost in the last episode to Team Canada’s Chad Laprise, telling Nordine Taleb of Team Canada that he can take a punch. Apparently, Indich had overhead the Canadian team claiming that the Aussies would be swept in the tournament as well as Sheldon Wescott questioning Indich’s chin.
Following the Indich/Laprise fight, the mood in the house had been mellowed. Both Indich and Laprise shared cheesecake and laughs, and the animosity between the two teams had shrunk.
With the Manawaroa/Taleb bout on the horizon, we received a closer look at both fighters. A little bit about Manawarao’s background was learned. He started training in Mixed Martial Arts at 15, and hasn’t looked back since. The profile on Nordine Taleb highlighted both his experience and how he channels his anger into being productive inside the cage.
Both middleweights made weight for their bout. The weigh-in pose between the two had a lot of intensity, and Team Australia coach Kyle Noke was forced to step in between the two fighters.
What followed was a piece that hyped up the fight through quips and quotes of cast members on the show. The bout was painted as one that would likely turn into the proverbial MMA “war”. This attitude was exemplified with a conversation between Canadian’s Chad Laprise and Luke Harris. Laprise told Harris “I [meaning his teammate, Nordine Taleb] hope he doesn’t finish him in the first round. I want to see the fight.”
The fight between the two took place, and it lived up to the hype. Tyler Manawaroa had his raised after a sudden victory round in what was an exciting, back-and-forth striking battle.
Manawaroa started off the first round impressively by picking his shots and consistently landing his right hand and jab. Nordine Taleb controlled the latter portion of the period with a flurry after flurry of knees to the body of the Australian within the clinch.
The second and the the first four minutes of the third round were both real similar. Taleb controlled the pace of the fight with his aggression and heavy striking output, but Manawaroa fought exhaustion and was able to continue to land the more significant shots with his boxing. In the last minute of the fight, Taleb took down his opponent and scored with ground and pound, only for Manawaroa to sweep him with time running out and work from the full mount position.
Tyler Manawaroa was able to do enough to get the unanimous decision victory and join Canada’s Elias Theodorou in the next round of the middleweight tournament.
Following the fight, Manawaroa went to the Canadian locker room to shake hands with his former opponent. The beef between Manawaroa and Taleb appeared to be squashed as both men gained a new sense of respect for one another.
With Team Australia having the ability to choose the fight for the first time this season, Kyle Noke’s squad chose the next welterweight match-up, and it pitted Team Australia’s Richard Walsh and Team Canada’s Matt Desroches.