TUF Nations blog with Chad Laprise, episode 3 recap: ‘I hit him with everything but the kitchen sink’

Team Canada’s Chad Laprise joins us in our weekly Thursday morning Q&A, where he’ll break down all the action that took place inside the TUF house, both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.

If you have any questions you’d like to ask Chad please let us know in the comments below and he’ll answer you next week. Rec’d comments will get first priority. Now with that said, let’s get things started.

Star-divide

David St. Martin: First of all, congrats on the win.

Chad Laprise: Thanks man, yea it’s been about two months since the fight so it’s awesome to actually get to see it. When I fight? I only remember about half of it. There’s so much that happens that you don’t even think about.

St. Martin: Cool, we’ll circle back the fight in a minute. Chris mentioned that he sort of kept his distance from you in the house, assuming you two would fight eventually.

Laprise: Yea he and I never really talked. For the first few weeks in the house, I actually didn’t really speak with many of the Australians, especially the welterweights. I knew I was going to be fighting one of them and figured Chris and I would meet down the road. That’s the matchup my coaches wanted and hoping that we would keep control there was a good chance.

St. Martin: What was up with some of the Tristar guys being upset about Jon Chaimberg working with the Aussies? It seemed like Patrick Cote was pretty pissed.

Laprise: Yea he’s actually my strength and condition coach. Nordine Taleb and I both work with him. I didn’t have an issue with it at all. I know some of the guy were definitely mad, but Jon and I are great friends. He also coaches Kyle Noke so he brought him in. No problem. He’s just doing his job. I knew he wouldn’t be telling the Australians anything about me. He’s a professional.

St. Martin: Yea I was a bit confused. It’s not like a striking coach that could give something away. It’s like nutrition in the sense that it improves everyone’s game, more so than maybe certain striking or BJJ techniques.

Laprise: Yea, it was actually nice to see him. I’d run into him at the gym every two days and we’d just catch up. I know there’s some bad blood between John and other people.

St. Martin: I’m reluctant to bring it up, but just why the hell do you think they felt the need to show you man-scaping? I’m hoping it has some practical application.

Laprise: Yea it was kind of weird. I don’t know why they decided to show me cutting my hair and shaving my legs. It’s just something that I always do. Just part of my pre-fight routine.

St. Martin: I thought maybe because you’re more of a striker, shaving your legs would make you a little slicker avoiding takedowns.

Laprise: Not really. It’s just what I do. I shave my whole body, shave my head. It’s fight time.

St. Martin: How was the cut? You said last week you were a true lightweight so I’m sure that made managing your weight much easier.

Laprise: Yea I’m not jacked up at all. I’m a huge lightweight, bigger than most guys. I walk around at about 185 pounds so fighting at welterweight was definitely not as big of an issue. I just gave up some size. Chris was definitely bigger than me but I knew I’d have a speed advantage on him.

St. Martin: Once the fight got rolling it seemed like Chris had no real answer for the jab and rear kicks.

Laprise: That was our gameplan, start to finish. I figured he was going to shoot on me more. I know he trains out of Robert Drysdale’s in Vegas. He’s a purple belt in jiu jitsu. Our plan was just to stick and move. It’s hard to take me down when I’m not in front of you and constantly angling.

St. Martin: With about a minute left in the first you nailed Chris with a combo of about 6-7 clean punches. How did he not go down?

Laprise: Chris Indich, I give it up to that guy. You could see his face. I hit that guy with everything but the kitchen sink. I just couldn’t put him down. Part of it was my fault. There were a few times I had him hurt and didn’t capitalize. I made some mistakes but Chris is super tough. I was disappointed not to get the stoppage, but I was also worried about getting through to the next round without getting hurt. I pretty much hit him with whatever I wanted. Now knowing that his plan was to stand with me, I could have let loose a little more.

St. Martin: After the first, I actually LOL’d when you asked, ‘Did I win that round?’

Laprise: In my head, I thought I won the round, but just wanted to check with my coaches that I was up 1-0. Just to know I didn’t need to change anything up. Keep doing what I was doing. His plans can also change or get desperate. Chris was throwing some haymakers and could have easily knocked me out if one landed.

St. Martin: How about Noke telling Chris to get ready for a third round?

Laprise: Yea Noke said afterwards that it was a ‘close fight.’ Without sounding arrogant, I felt like I was in 100 percent control of the fight from bell to bell. Now watching it, I definitely won every minute of that fight. I even spoke with Chris later in the house and he said he had wanted a third round. Not to sound cocky, I don’t like to talk smack or anything, but I don’t think a third would have been too good for him. His face was pretty busted up already. He’s a tough guy but he didn’t need to take any more damage.

St. Martin: So we’ve got Nordine Taleb vs. Team Australia’s Tyler Manawaroa next week. Anything you can tell us about the fight?

Laprise: Another sick fight. Nordine is a killer. A great striker and one of our better middleweights. Tyler is 10-0. I think he’s probably their best guy. It’s going to be fireworks. Nordine and Tyler have kind of been going back and forth with each other in the house and they both want this fight.

St. Martin: Now we go to the mailbag.

Do you feel the TUF experience will have been worth it even if you don’t get a UFC contract?

Laprise: Yea I mean prior to the show there was no where to go but up. Just the publicity has been great. Great training and being on the UFC’s radar is never a bad thing.

Did the coaches let you keep your own style? Or did they try to change but improve you guys.

Laprise: Not at all. From day one, our coaches set out to help each of us individually. We all got there using certain skills. We really worked to improve what we’re good at and to defend what we’re not.

Do you feel you improved training with your team on TUF? Or do you get better training back home?

Laprise: It’s definitely different. Back home, I have a bunch of different coaches. I’m blessed to have a great camp here in London, Ontario and in Montreal with Tristar. I would say I get a little bit better training back home. On the show, we only had two training sessions a day and you’re really just working on being ready to fight. Back home I have more time to focus on skill building.

Do you have a question for Chad Laprise? Ask it in the comments below and he’ll answer you next week. The Ultimate Fighter: Nations airs every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Portions of this interview have been edited for concision.

Team Canada’s Chad Laprise joins us in our weekly Thursday morning Q&A, where he’ll break down all the action that took place inside the TUF house, both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.

If you have any questions you’d like to ask Chad please let us know in the comments below and he’ll answer you next week. Rec’d comments will get first priority. Now with that said, let’s get things started.

Star-divide

David St. Martin: First of all, congrats on the win.

Chad Laprise: Thanks man, yea it’s been about two months since the fight so it’s awesome to actually get to see it. When I fight? I only remember about half of it. There’s so much that happens that you don’t even think about.

St. Martin: Cool, we’ll circle back the fight in a minute. Chris mentioned that he sort of kept his distance from you in the house, assuming you two would fight eventually.

Laprise: Yea he and I never really talked. For the first few weeks in the house, I actually didn’t really speak with many of the Australians, especially the welterweights. I knew I was going to be fighting one of them and figured Chris and I would meet down the road. That’s the matchup my coaches wanted and hoping that we would keep control there was a good chance.

St. Martin: What was up with some of the Tristar guys being upset about Jon Chaimberg working with the Aussies? It seemed like Patrick Cote was pretty pissed.

Laprise: Yea he’s actually my strength and condition coach. Nordine Taleb and I both work with him. I didn’t have an issue with it at all. I know some of the guy were definitely mad, but Jon and I are great friends. He also coaches Kyle Noke so he brought him in. No problem. He’s just doing his job. I knew he wouldn’t be telling the Australians anything about me. He’s a professional.

St. Martin: Yea I was a bit confused. It’s not like a striking coach that could give something away. It’s like nutrition in the sense that it improves everyone’s game, more so than maybe certain striking or BJJ techniques.

Laprise: Yea, it was actually nice to see him. I’d run into him at the gym every two days and we’d just catch up. I know there’s some bad blood between John and other people.

St. Martin: I’m reluctant to bring it up, but just why the hell do you think they felt the need to show you man-scaping? I’m hoping it has some practical application.

Laprise: Yea it was kind of weird. I don’t know why they decided to show me cutting my hair and shaving my legs. It’s just something that I always do. Just part of my pre-fight routine.

St. Martin: I thought maybe because you’re more of a striker, shaving your legs would make you a little slicker avoiding takedowns.

Laprise: Not really. It’s just what I do. I shave my whole body, shave my head. It’s fight time.

St. Martin: How was the cut? You said last week you were a true lightweight so I’m sure that made managing your weight much easier.

Laprise: Yea I’m not jacked up at all. I’m a huge lightweight, bigger than most guys. I walk around at about 185 pounds so fighting at welterweight was definitely not as big of an issue. I just gave up some size. Chris was definitely bigger than me but I knew I’d have a speed advantage on him.

St. Martin: Once the fight got rolling it seemed like Chris had no real answer for the jab and rear kicks.

Laprise: That was our gameplan, start to finish. I figured he was going to shoot on me more. I know he trains out of Robert Drysdale’s in Vegas. He’s a purple belt in jiu jitsu. Our plan was just to stick and move. It’s hard to take me down when I’m not in front of you and constantly angling.

St. Martin: With about a minute left in the first you nailed Chris with a combo of about 6-7 clean punches. How did he not go down?

Laprise: Chris Indich, I give it up to that guy. You could see his face. I hit that guy with everything but the kitchen sink. I just couldn’t put him down. Part of it was my fault. There were a few times I had him hurt and didn’t capitalize. I made some mistakes but Chris is super tough. I was disappointed not to get the stoppage, but I was also worried about getting through to the next round without getting hurt. I pretty much hit him with whatever I wanted. Now knowing that his plan was to stand with me, I could have let loose a little more.

St. Martin: After the first, I actually LOL’d when you asked, ‘Did I win that round?’

Laprise: In my head, I thought I won the round, but just wanted to check with my coaches that I was up 1-0. Just to know I didn’t need to change anything up. Keep doing what I was doing. His plans can also change or get desperate. Chris was throwing some haymakers and could have easily knocked me out if one landed.

St. Martin: How about Noke telling Chris to get ready for a third round?

Laprise: Yea Noke said afterwards that it was a ‘close fight.’ Without sounding arrogant, I felt like I was in 100 percent control of the fight from bell to bell. Now watching it, I definitely won every minute of that fight. I even spoke with Chris later in the house and he said he had wanted a third round. Not to sound cocky, I don’t like to talk smack or anything, but I don’t think a third would have been too good for him. His face was pretty busted up already. He’s a tough guy but he didn’t need to take any more damage.

St. Martin: So we’ve got Nordine Taleb vs. Team Australia’s Tyler Manawaroa next week. Anything you can tell us about the fight?

Laprise: Another sick fight. Nordine is a killer. A great striker and one of our better middleweights. Tyler is 10-0. I think he’s probably their best guy. It’s going to be fireworks. Nordine and Tyler have kind of been going back and forth with each other in the house and they both want this fight.

St. Martin: Now we go to the mailbag.

Do you feel the TUF experience will have been worth it even if you don’t get a UFC contract?

Laprise: Yea I mean prior to the show there was no where to go but up. Just the publicity has been great. Great training and being on the UFC’s radar is never a bad thing.

Did the coaches let you keep your own style? Or did they try to change but improve you guys.

Laprise: Not at all. From day one, our coaches set out to help each of us individually. We all got there using certain skills. We really worked to improve what we’re good at and to defend what we’re not.

Do you feel you improved training with your team on TUF? Or do you get better training back home?

Laprise: It’s definitely different. Back home, I have a bunch of different coaches. I’m blessed to have a great camp here in London, Ontario and in Montreal with Tristar. I would say I get a little bit better training back home. On the show, we only had two training sessions a day and you’re really just working on being ready to fight. Back home I have more time to focus on skill building.

Do you have a question for Chad Laprise? Ask it in the comments below and he’ll answer you next week. The Ultimate Fighter: Nations airs every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. Portions of this interview have been edited for concision.