The twelfth episode of The Ultimate Fighters Nations started with this season’s coach’s challenge, which pitted Team Canada’s Patrick Cote against Team Australia’s Kyle Noke in a outdoorsman competition.
All the fighters and the coaches arrived at the challenge sight which was rural filled with mounted, stuffed animals. The three components of the contest was axe throwing, crossbow shooting, and log sawing.
PCote started off the competition on a high note by winning the axe throwing contest, which saw both coaches attempt to throw an axe and stick it on a target painted on a log. Noke retailed by winning the crossbow shooting challenge. After both coaches grazed the apple with a pair of shots, Noke was able to connect dead in the center of the fruit with his third shot.
The contest came down to a sawing bottle where both coaches sawed off a piece of a log with a huge saw as quickly as possible. Cote secured the win by cutting off the piece in 41.87 seconds, besting Noke’s time of 49.33 seconds.
Although it was Team Canada who won the coach’s challenge, both teams celebrated by having a hearty barbecue that featured moose, bison, deer, and pig on the menu. Following the challenge, the direction of the episode shifted towards the upcoming semifinal welterweight fight between Canada’s Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Australia’s Richard Walsh.
Aubin-Mercier was touted by his teammates and coaches as one of the bright prospects on the Canadian scene that could become a star in the UFC. For Walsh, a lot of the segments on him detailed how he would combat Aubin-Mercier’s wrestling. Israel Martinez, one of the Australian assistant coaches, brought in a wrestler he knew from back home named David Silva to help Walsh with his wrestling.
Team Canada had some at Team Australia’s expense by defacing the photo magnets on each of the Australian’s lockers. Brendan O’Reilly took offense to the altered magnets and responded by leaving a gutted and beheaded large, toy moose hanging from it’s hooves in the Canadian locker room.
Before the fight between Walsh and Aubin-Mercier, the Australians blew off a bit of steam by having fun in the snow. The team did flips off a cliff and took turns sledding down the hill.
After both fighters successfully weighed in for the welterweight bout, the fight took place.
The early moments of the contest started off on the feet with Walsh slightly getting the better of the southpaw, but Aubin-Mercier turned the fight into a grappling match by pressuring Walsh against the cage. Eventually, Aubin-Mercier got Walsh’s back and powered his way into a rear-naked choke that elicited a tap from Walsh in the first round.
With the victory, Olivier Aubin-Mercier earned a spot in the welterweight tournament finals. He’ll face fellow Canadian Chad Laprise on the Finale.
On the next episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Canada’s Sheldon Westcott will take on Australia’s Vik Grujic in the season’s last semifinal fight. The winner of that bout will take on Elias Theodorou in the finals.