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TUF Nations blog with Chad Laprise, episode 11 recap: ‘I was genuinely concerned for him’
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. Chad’s training in Chicago with Jeff Curran so it’s a quick one this week.
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.
David St. Martin: How have things changed for you since last week’s episode aired?
Chad Laprise: Yea, it’s been a pretty busy week. I’ve had a ton of press and interviews. It’s been good but I really don’t let that kind of stuff get to me. I’m focused on my fight and that’s all that really matters.
St. Martin: How has the balance of feedback on the episode been?
Laprise: I got a ton of positive messages for every bad one, I’d say. I think this most recent episode will clear some stuff up. The negative stuff doesn’t get to me. Those people aren’t the ones stepping into the cage or fighting. I’m the one who has to do it. People can say whatever they want but I’ll just stay humble and keep winning fights.
St. Martin: Even last week here in the comments I was pretty confused about how people were reading into the situation.
Laprise: Yea I think in this week’s episode they actually show that I was genuinely upset that I hurt Kajan [Johnson], that he came back with his jaw broken. They took him away in an ambulance and I didn’t see him again until he came back to the house. I didn’t even know his jaw was broken. I was just hoping for maybe a fracture, something small that wouldn’t require surgery. I was genuinely concerned for him.
St. Martin: I thought you compartmentalized the situation pretty well, but it’s tough for people to relate when their only fighting experience comes from an angry place. People seemed upset that you dared celebrate a win, even for just a second.
Laprise: Yea exactly. You see it in the cage that I was worried about Kajan. They’re going to air the parts they want. They showed the 10 seconds of me looking happy. I’d just won the biggest fight of my life and moved on to the finale.
St. Martin: It sounded like some of the Aussies thought Kajan’s cornerman, Fabio Holanda, almost purposefully avoided being helpful.
Laprise: I really can’t speak to their relationship so I don’t know. It was definitely a weird situation and I was just glad it was over.
St. Martin: Kajan didn’t seem incredibly popular in the house before the fight, but it was nice to see the everyone kind of swarm him when he walked in.
Laprise: It’s like a brotherhood that we have as fighters. Kajan and some of the Australians, especially Brendan O’Reilly, had some petty beef just living in the house, but people calmed down when he was seriously injured. Everyone was quick to lend a hand to him.
St. Martin: Did you sense any resentment from anyone in the house about the injury?
Laprise: No, not at all. Everyone treated me the same. They knew it was just business. It was hard for everyone to watch the fight happen and it was certainly hard for me. We were all in the same boat, just worried about how Kajan was doing.
St. Martin: Moving on, the semifinal fight between Elias Theodorou and Tyler Manawaroa ended up being pretty one-sided. Elias just Ben Askren‘d Tyler for three rounds. I think Kyle Noke called it ‘grapple humping.’ Were you just happy the focus wasn’t on you any longer?
Laprise: Well actually, there were two fights in one day. I fought first and then an hour later Elias was up. I just fought, Kajan went to the hospital and then another fight. It was a crazy day. Elias and I came up in the same local scene together and he was my main training partner on the show. I knew 100% that was how that fight would go down. He just wears guys down. They can’t handle it. He was the perfect training partner for me because of his style.
St. Martin: So did Elias catch your fight or was he in the back chilling out and warming up?
Laprise: Nope he was off somewhere doing his thing, but I got to see his fight afterwards. The pressure was off me. It was good to just cheer for a teammate. I even really like Tyler. If he had been fighting someone else, not one of my guys, I would have been cheering for him.
Laprise: This is the fight I wanted, but Oli ended up with it. Rich is probably the biggest welterweight in the house and Olivier is just a killer. We’ll have to see how it plays out.
St. Martin: To the mailbag.
Jamesglory: Last season; Julianna Pena and Ronda too, both complained about the editing of the show and it subsequently portraying them in a bad light. Do you think perhaps, the editing on this week’s episode, made it seem as if everyone was on your side, including coach Cote? Whilst Kajan seemed to be on his own and ‘cheated’ out of the same attention/support that you had?
Laprise: Exactly right. People have to realize this is a reality show and they can make you seem however they want to. I can’t comment a whole lot about it but I don’t feel that’s how things went down, but that’s the way it was shown on TV.
Jamesglory: Do you have any other instances when you personally feel, you have been edited in a way you are not that overjoyed about?
Laprise: Pretty much just the episode when I fought Kajan. That’s been the only time all season that I wasn’t real happy with my portrayal. Everything else, I think they’ve done a pretty fair job.
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. Chad’s training in Chicago with Jeff Curran so it’s a quick one this week.
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.
David St. Martin: How have things changed for you since last week’s episode aired?
Chad Laprise: Yea, it’s been a pretty busy week. I’ve had a ton of press and interviews. It’s been good but I really don’t let that kind of stuff get to me. I’m focused on my fight and that’s all that really matters.
St. Martin: How has the balance of feedback on the episode been?
Laprise: I got a ton of positive messages for every bad one, I’d say. I think this most recent episode will clear some stuff up. The negative stuff doesn’t get to me. Those people aren’t the ones stepping into the cage or fighting. I’m the one who has to do it. People can say whatever they want but I’ll just stay humble and keep winning fights.
St. Martin: Even last week here in the comments I was pretty confused about how people were reading into the situation.
Laprise: Yea I think in this week’s episode they actually show that I was genuinely upset that I hurt Kajan [Johnson], that he came back with his jaw broken. They took him away in an ambulance and I didn’t see him again until he came back to the house. I didn’t even know his jaw was broken. I was just hoping for maybe a fracture, something small that wouldn’t require surgery. I was genuinely concerned for him.
St. Martin: I thought you compartmentalized the situation pretty well, but it’s tough for people to relate when their only fighting experience comes from an angry place. People seemed upset that you dared celebrate a win, even for just a second.
Laprise: Yea exactly. You see it in the cage that I was worried about Kajan. They’re going to air the parts they want. They showed the 10 seconds of me looking happy. I’d just won the biggest fight of my life and moved on to the finale.
St. Martin: It sounded like some of the Aussies thought Kajan’s cornerman, Fabio Holanda, almost purposefully avoided being helpful.
Laprise: I really can’t speak to their relationship so I don’t know. It was definitely a weird situation and I was just glad it was over.
St. Martin: Kajan didn’t seem incredibly popular in the house before the fight, but it was nice to see the everyone kind of swarm him when he walked in.
Laprise: It’s like a brotherhood that we have as fighters. Kajan and some of the Australians, especially Brendan O’Reilly, had some petty beef just living in the house, but people calmed down when he was seriously injured. Everyone was quick to lend a hand to him.
St. Martin: Did you sense any resentment from anyone in the house about the injury?
Laprise: No, not at all. Everyone treated me the same. They knew it was just business. It was hard for everyone to watch the fight happen and it was certainly hard for me. We were all in the same boat, just worried about how Kajan was doing.
St. Martin: Moving on, the semifinal fight between Elias Theodorou and Tyler Manawaroa ended up being pretty one-sided. Elias just Ben Askren‘d Tyler for three rounds. I think Kyle Noke called it ‘grapple humping.’ Were you just happy the focus wasn’t on you any longer?
Laprise: Well actually, there were two fights in one day. I fought first and then an hour later Elias was up. I just fought, Kajan went to the hospital and then another fight. It was a crazy day. Elias and I came up in the same local scene together and he was my main training partner on the show. I knew 100% that was how that fight would go down. He just wears guys down. They can’t handle it. He was the perfect training partner for me because of his style.
St. Martin: So did Elias catch your fight or was he in the back chilling out and warming up?
Laprise: Nope he was off somewhere doing his thing, but I got to see his fight afterwards. The pressure was off me. It was good to just cheer for a teammate. I even really like Tyler. If he had been fighting someone else, not one of my guys, I would have been cheering for him.
Laprise: This is the fight I wanted, but Oli ended up with it. Rich is probably the biggest welterweight in the house and Olivier is just a killer. We’ll have to see how it plays out.
St. Martin: To the mailbag.
Jamesglory: Last season; Julianna Pena and Ronda too, both complained about the editing of the show and it subsequently portraying them in a bad light. Do you think perhaps, the editing on this week’s episode, made it seem as if everyone was on your side, including coach Cote? Whilst Kajan seemed to be on his own and ‘cheated’ out of the same attention/support that you had?
Laprise: Exactly right. People have to realize this is a reality show and they can make you seem however they want to. I can’t comment a whole lot about it but I don’t feel that’s how things went down, but that’s the way it was shown on TV.
Jamesglory: Do you have any other instances when you personally feel, you have been edited in a way you are not that overjoyed about?
Laprise: Pretty much just the episode when I fought Kajan. That’s been the only time all season that I wasn’t real happy with my portrayal. Everything else, I think they’ve done a pretty fair job.
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.
