UFC best betting sites and the best MMA odds and gambling news
TUF Nations blog with Chad Laprise, episode 10 recap: ‘When that shot lands it feels like you hit air’
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.
David St. Martin: Huge congrats on the win! Let’s work our way to the fight. No real surprises in the fight selections, all the Team Canada guys want to fight Rich Walsh.
Chad Laprise: I wanted that fight so bad. Every day I was putting in leg work to try and get it. I was asking his coaches, the producers and everybody for that fight.
St. Martin: It looked like the middleweights were pretty well set before even speaking with Dana. Did those guys sort of have a plan going in?
St. Martin: How did you feel as they announced you’d be facing Kajan Johnson, not only your teammate on the show, but back at Tristar?
Laprise: When they announced my fight with him I was not happy, as you could see with the look on my face. I really didn’t want to fight a teammate. We had been training together off and on for a while and I knew how talented he was. I knew how hard of a fight this was going to be. Going into the show I knew that Kajan, Olivier Aubin-Mercier and I would all win and one of us would have to fight but I was hoping it wasn’t going to be me.
St. Martin: Why do you think they picked Olivier to fight Rich?
Laprise: Three reasons for that fight. First, Olivier is French and they would love to have a french guy in the finals and Rich is an Aussie so if he wins that is also good for the final. The second reason is that Kajan and I both have great styles against each other to make an absolute war. If that fight would have went more time it would have 100% been fight of the season. The third is that I had been hounding Richard for that fight and I knew it would either get it for me or completely backfire.
St. Martin: Did Kajan have a pretty accurate assessment of your likely gameplan going into the fight?
Laprise: Yea he did and I knew exactly what he would try and do. I knew he would strike with me then when I got comfortable he would shoot for a take down. My plan was to stop his takedowns and keep the fight standing where I felt that would be my best chance at winning.
St. Martin: It was pretty tough watching you break down about your upbringing. It’s great to see you’ve found an outlet for some of the issues you brought up.
Laprise: Before that show, I had never really told that story to many people. Still to this day I don’t like talking about it and the only reason I brought it up on the show was to help other people. I know there are people out there who have been through the same kind of thing and I wanted them to hear a bit of my story. Even if things aren’t going well you can always turn it around.
St. Martin: How did you feel about the cornermen and coaching split?
Laprise: It was a very hard thing with both of us fighting each other so I knew this was going to be an issue.
St. Martin: Why do you think Patrick Cote came over to you in the locker room to give you that advice about your gameplan? Does he have a tighter relationship with you than Kajan?
Laprise: The only reason Pat said that to me was he knew my head was not in the right place at that time. I had my heart set on fighting Richard and he knew I needed to change my mindset. I can’t speak for Pat and Kajan’s relationship but he treated me very well and I respect him a lot.
St. Martin: It was nice to see Nordine not really take sides in this fight.
St. Martin: It seemed like Jake Matthews didn’t appreciate you acting more friendly towards he and the other Aussies.
Laprise: Yea I see that now! At that time I needed to wrap my head around fighting a teammate so I was trying to isolate myself a bit. The whole show I knew it would happen but focused all my thoughts on fighting Richard. That was the only way I would be able to get through training with my team everyday. When they said I had to fight Kajan,I had to get Richard out of my head and switch to Kajan. Most of the show I was nice to the Aussies but really kept my distance because I knew they were potential opponents and now they weren’t.
St. Martin: As for the fight, there was no real feeling out period whatsoever.
Laprise: We have had some great sparring matches in the past and knew exactly what to expect.
St. Martin: How’d Round 1 feel to you? Kajan started landing in the last minute and you were cut under the eye.
Laprise: Round 1 I felt really good. I was landing some good shots and so was he. I was able to defend the takedowns but was having a little trouble with his reach. I knew I was a bit quicker and had a little pop on my shots but I also knew one mistake and Kajan would make me pay. He is a real vet in this sport and is so well rounded in every position. I had to fight very smart and calm.
St. Martin: Right after the KO we see Nordine just immediately hide form the cameras, visibly shaken up. How’d you react seeing that?
Laprise: I don’t like seeing that at all. I can only imagine how the rest of the team felt.
St. Martin: Did you have a feeling you broke Kajan’s jaw? Did it sting worse knowing you may have injured him on top of the KO?
Laprise: I’ve knocked people out before, and when that shot lands, it feels like you hit air. I knew I had hurt him and really did feel bad. When I fight, I never want to hurt people especially a teammate. Before the fight we both said whatever happens happens but when it actually does it’s not a great feeling. This is the reality of the sport we are in.
St. Martin: Now to the mailbag.
Daniel Rivera!: Question for you. Lets say you get a UFC contract, will you plan to spread your wings and move to other camps to learn new techniques? Or rely on talent coming in and out to train at TriStar?
Laprise: I’m going to keep doing the exact same stuff that got me to this point. I’m blessed to have some of the best training partners in the world between my home gym in Ontario and when I go up to Montreal. I don’t plan on changing any of my coaches.
Jamesglory: Question for Chad: If you weren’t an MMA fighter, what would you want to be and why? Thanks for the blog.
Laprise: Growing up I wanted to be a police officer. That was always kind of my main goal. Even in the early part of my MMA career I was still working towards becoming a police officer. Now, once I’m doing fighting, I’d like to be a pastor. I mentioned it a little bit on this last episode.
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.
David St. Martin: Huge congrats on the win! Let’s work our way to the fight. No real surprises in the fight selections, all the Team Canada guys want to fight Rich Walsh.
Chad Laprise: I wanted that fight so bad. Every day I was putting in leg work to try and get it. I was asking his coaches, the producers and everybody for that fight.
St. Martin: It looked like the middleweights were pretty well set before even speaking with Dana. Did those guys sort of have a plan going in?
St. Martin: How did you feel as they announced you’d be facing Kajan Johnson, not only your teammate on the show, but back at Tristar?
Laprise: When they announced my fight with him I was not happy, as you could see with the look on my face. I really didn’t want to fight a teammate. We had been training together off and on for a while and I knew how talented he was. I knew how hard of a fight this was going to be. Going into the show I knew that Kajan, Olivier Aubin-Mercier and I would all win and one of us would have to fight but I was hoping it wasn’t going to be me.
St. Martin: Why do you think they picked Olivier to fight Rich?
Laprise: Three reasons for that fight. First, Olivier is French and they would love to have a french guy in the finals and Rich is an Aussie so if he wins that is also good for the final. The second reason is that Kajan and I both have great styles against each other to make an absolute war. If that fight would have went more time it would have 100% been fight of the season. The third is that I had been hounding Richard for that fight and I knew it would either get it for me or completely backfire.
St. Martin: Did Kajan have a pretty accurate assessment of your likely gameplan going into the fight?
Laprise: Yea he did and I knew exactly what he would try and do. I knew he would strike with me then when I got comfortable he would shoot for a take down. My plan was to stop his takedowns and keep the fight standing where I felt that would be my best chance at winning.
St. Martin: It was pretty tough watching you break down about your upbringing. It’s great to see you’ve found an outlet for some of the issues you brought up.
Laprise: Before that show, I had never really told that story to many people. Still to this day I don’t like talking about it and the only reason I brought it up on the show was to help other people. I know there are people out there who have been through the same kind of thing and I wanted them to hear a bit of my story. Even if things aren’t going well you can always turn it around.
St. Martin: How did you feel about the cornermen and coaching split?
Laprise: It was a very hard thing with both of us fighting each other so I knew this was going to be an issue.
St. Martin: Why do you think Patrick Cote came over to you in the locker room to give you that advice about your gameplan? Does he have a tighter relationship with you than Kajan?
Laprise: The only reason Pat said that to me was he knew my head was not in the right place at that time. I had my heart set on fighting Richard and he knew I needed to change my mindset. I can’t speak for Pat and Kajan’s relationship but he treated me very well and I respect him a lot.
St. Martin: It was nice to see Nordine not really take sides in this fight.
St. Martin: It seemed like Jake Matthews didn’t appreciate you acting more friendly towards he and the other Aussies.
Laprise: Yea I see that now! At that time I needed to wrap my head around fighting a teammate so I was trying to isolate myself a bit. The whole show I knew it would happen but focused all my thoughts on fighting Richard. That was the only way I would be able to get through training with my team everyday. When they said I had to fight Kajan,I had to get Richard out of my head and switch to Kajan. Most of the show I was nice to the Aussies but really kept my distance because I knew they were potential opponents and now they weren’t.
St. Martin: As for the fight, there was no real feeling out period whatsoever.
Laprise: We have had some great sparring matches in the past and knew exactly what to expect.
St. Martin: How’d Round 1 feel to you? Kajan started landing in the last minute and you were cut under the eye.
Laprise: Round 1 I felt really good. I was landing some good shots and so was he. I was able to defend the takedowns but was having a little trouble with his reach. I knew I was a bit quicker and had a little pop on my shots but I also knew one mistake and Kajan would make me pay. He is a real vet in this sport and is so well rounded in every position. I had to fight very smart and calm.
St. Martin: Right after the KO we see Nordine just immediately hide form the cameras, visibly shaken up. How’d you react seeing that?
Laprise: I don’t like seeing that at all. I can only imagine how the rest of the team felt.
St. Martin: Did you have a feeling you broke Kajan’s jaw? Did it sting worse knowing you may have injured him on top of the KO?
Laprise: I’ve knocked people out before, and when that shot lands, it feels like you hit air. I knew I had hurt him and really did feel bad. When I fight, I never want to hurt people especially a teammate. Before the fight we both said whatever happens happens but when it actually does it’s not a great feeling. This is the reality of the sport we are in.
St. Martin: Now to the mailbag.
Daniel Rivera!: Question for you. Lets say you get a UFC contract, will you plan to spread your wings and move to other camps to learn new techniques? Or rely on talent coming in and out to train at TriStar?
Laprise: I’m going to keep doing the exact same stuff that got me to this point. I’m blessed to have some of the best training partners in the world between my home gym in Ontario and when I go up to Montreal. I don’t plan on changing any of my coaches.
Jamesglory: Question for Chad: If you weren’t an MMA fighter, what would you want to be and why? Thanks for the blog.
Laprise: Growing up I wanted to be a police officer. That was always kind of my main goal. Even in the early part of my MMA career I was still working towards becoming a police officer. Now, once I’m doing fighting, I’d like to be a pastor. I mentioned it a little bit on this last episode.
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.
