TUF Nations blog with Chad Laprise, episode 7 recap: ‘The next GSP’

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: So we kick it off with the Aussies sort of ganging up on Kajan Johnson a little bit. I guess they thought he was yelling about Dan Kelly ‘being done’ after his fight, but Kajan was vindicated by video replay.

Chad Laprise: Yea I had no idea any of that even went on. Obviously, the cameras showed that he didn’t say that stuff. It looked like he was in the clear.

St. Martin: Alright, you’ve said this a few times. Whenever something dramatic or weird is going on you seem to have escaped it completely. Where are you when this stuff happens?

Laprise: Ha! I tell you man, I avoided all the conflict. I was there for one reason and that was to win the show. I couldn’t have cared less about what happened in the house so I spent pretty much every minute of my day reading by the fireplace or sleeping in my room. I was there for a job. I literally don’t even hear about this stuff until I see it on TV. I just didn’t speak with people that much.

St. Martin: Did you worry that secluding yourself might cost you airtime?

Laprise: For sure, I knew going in I wouldn’t be the guy getting as much airtime as guys like Kajan and Elias. It was all about winning fights and getting that contract.

St. Martin: Then we saw Kajan sort of talk about the weirdness picking up between you two during sparring.

Laprise: Yea, I knew going in that Kajan, Olivier Aubin-Mercier and I would all win our first-round fights. We’re all super talented. I knew there was a good chance I’d have to fight one of them. We’re all teammates back home but we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Training just got super weird once we all made it into the semifinals. The reality set in. Only one guy was going to get Rich Walsh.

St. Martin: Kajan said you would rather fight him over Olivier, and that he’d rather fight you, as well. Is that right?

Laprise: That’s what Kajan said, yea.

St. Martin: Why do you think that was?

Laprise: It was weird to hear him say that. You’ve seen in all my interviews saying, ‘I don’t want to fight either of them and that between Kajan and Olivier it was up to the UFC to decide. If it came down to it, I would make the UFC pick.’

St. Martin: Could Kajan have been thinking he’d rather stand with you than go to the mat with Olivier, ‘the next GSP?’

Laprise: I don’t know where he was coming from with that. If you just look on paper, I was a striker, Oli was a grappler and Kajan was sort of more well-rounded. Maybe that had something to do with it.

St. Martin: Moving on to the fight between Olivier and Jake Matthews, Oli looked a little timid until things hit the mat. I guess he said he actually wanted to take a few punches just to feel it out.

Laprise: Yea, Olivier’s a stud. He’s been grappling his entire life. Once he puts you on your back, you’re in trouble. Jake definitely fought tough, but he didn’t fight very smart. He just showed some inexperience.

St. Martin: Yea physically, Jake looked really pretty good. He also didn’t get finished, which was impressive.

Laprise: Yea Jake looked great standing and then shoots for the takedown during that second round. What was he thinking? Olivier just reversed it and took over.

St. Martin: Olivier has that quiet, creepy calmness about him. Sort of like a Gunnar Nelson.

Laprise: Exactly. He’s been a competitor his whole life so it’s old hat for him. One of the nicest guys outside the cage but he means business. I don’t know if you caught it, but for his entrance, none of us were cheering for him. He told us all that he didn’t want us cheering, at all.

St. Martin: What was the story there?

Laprise: I have no idea why he likes that, but he just said he’d prefer it that way.

St. Martin: How’s he going to handle walking into a Montreal crowd if he’s the next GSP?

Laprise: Ha, yea I don’t know but he’s really been built up like that. He’s got a bright future.

St. Martin: So next week we’ve got the last middleweight quarterfinal between Canada’s Luke Harris and the Australian Vik Grujic. I feel like Luke almost could have been a coach on this season. You forget he’s part of the cast.

Laprise: Yea Luke’s been around forever. He’s 36 and has been fighting for a long time. He owns his own gym, Hayabusa Training Centre, and actually owns the whole Hayabusa brand. He’s a very successful guy and definitely not doing this for money. He loves it. He actually did help with some coaching, helped guys cut weight. Black belt in judo and jiu jitsu. He’s been around the block.

St. Martin: Outside of interviews, we don’t know too much about Vic.

Laprise: Yea I didn’t know Vic, really, at all. He’s 36, too, but not too much other than that. He was a nice guy but I really only knew his record, which I think is 6-2. Zein Saliba, his teammate, actually beat him a year or two before the show. We’ll just have to see what happens.

St. Martin: Now, to the mailbag.

Red eyes: Can you tell us something interesting and memorable that wasn’t included in the show?

Laprise: Hmmm, they actually told us not to talk too much about stuff that doesn’t make it into the episode. ‘If it’s not in the show, it never happened.’ But, some other guys have mentioned this in blogs, so I’d say Matthew Desroches‘ weight cut was pretty funny. He had a crazy experience. In the bath, he started hallucinating and going crazy. He was just speaking gibberish. I’ve never seen it in my life. He didn’t like cutting weight in the bath tub, but he didn’t really have a choice.

Saw18: Chad looks a bit like Fedor. Has anybody told him that? If yes, what does he think of it?

Laprise: Ha! No, I haven’t gotten Fedor but I’ve been told I look like Dan Henderson. Never Fedor. He’s one of the best all-time so I’ll take it as a compliment.

St. Martin: But he’s not an incredibly good looking man. How would you react? Would you want some more clarification about whether it’s physical appearance or fighting style?

Laprise: Yea, I’d definitely rather have his fighting skill than his looks. For sure. I’m a married man so I really don’t care what I look like anymore.

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: So we kick it off with the Aussies sort of ganging up on Kajan Johnson a little bit. I guess they thought he was yelling about Dan Kelly ‘being done’ after his fight, but Kajan was vindicated by video replay.

Chad Laprise: Yea I had no idea any of that even went on. Obviously, the cameras showed that he didn’t say that stuff. It looked like he was in the clear.

St. Martin: Alright, you’ve said this a few times. Whenever something dramatic or weird is going on you seem to have escaped it completely. Where are you when this stuff happens?

Laprise: Ha! I tell you man, I avoided all the conflict. I was there for one reason and that was to win the show. I couldn’t have cared less about what happened in the house so I spent pretty much every minute of my day reading by the fireplace or sleeping in my room. I was there for a job. I literally don’t even hear about this stuff until I see it on TV. I just didn’t speak with people that much.

St. Martin: Did you worry that secluding yourself might cost you airtime?

Laprise: For sure, I knew going in I wouldn’t be the guy getting as much airtime as guys like Kajan and Elias. It was all about winning fights and getting that contract.

St. Martin: Then we saw Kajan sort of talk about the weirdness picking up between you two during sparring.

Laprise: Yea, I knew going in that Kajan, Olivier Aubin-Mercier and I would all win our first-round fights. We’re all super talented. I knew there was a good chance I’d have to fight one of them. We’re all teammates back home but we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Training just got super weird once we all made it into the semifinals. The reality set in. Only one guy was going to get Rich Walsh.

St. Martin: Kajan said you would rather fight him over Olivier, and that he’d rather fight you, as well. Is that right?

Laprise: That’s what Kajan said, yea.

St. Martin: Why do you think that was?

Laprise: It was weird to hear him say that. You’ve seen in all my interviews saying, ‘I don’t want to fight either of them and that between Kajan and Olivier it was up to the UFC to decide. If it came down to it, I would make the UFC pick.’

St. Martin: Could Kajan have been thinking he’d rather stand with you than go to the mat with Olivier, ‘the next GSP?’

Laprise: I don’t know where he was coming from with that. If you just look on paper, I was a striker, Oli was a grappler and Kajan was sort of more well-rounded. Maybe that had something to do with it.

St. Martin: Moving on to the fight between Olivier and Jake Matthews, Oli looked a little timid until things hit the mat. I guess he said he actually wanted to take a few punches just to feel it out.

Laprise: Yea, Olivier’s a stud. He’s been grappling his entire life. Once he puts you on your back, you’re in trouble. Jake definitely fought tough, but he didn’t fight very smart. He just showed some inexperience.

St. Martin: Yea physically, Jake looked really pretty good. He also didn’t get finished, which was impressive.

Laprise: Yea Jake looked great standing and then shoots for the takedown during that second round. What was he thinking? Olivier just reversed it and took over.

St. Martin: Olivier has that quiet, creepy calmness about him. Sort of like a Gunnar Nelson.

Laprise: Exactly. He’s been a competitor his whole life so it’s old hat for him. One of the nicest guys outside the cage but he means business. I don’t know if you caught it, but for his entrance, none of us were cheering for him. He told us all that he didn’t want us cheering, at all.

St. Martin: What was the story there?

Laprise: I have no idea why he likes that, but he just said he’d prefer it that way.

St. Martin: How’s he going to handle walking into a Montreal crowd if he’s the next GSP?

Laprise: Ha, yea I don’t know but he’s really been built up like that. He’s got a bright future.

St. Martin: So next week we’ve got the last middleweight quarterfinal between Canada’s Luke Harris and the Australian Vik Grujic. I feel like Luke almost could have been a coach on this season. You forget he’s part of the cast.

Laprise: Yea Luke’s been around forever. He’s 36 and has been fighting for a long time. He owns his own gym, Hayabusa Training Centre, and actually owns the whole Hayabusa brand. He’s a very successful guy and definitely not doing this for money. He loves it. He actually did help with some coaching, helped guys cut weight. Black belt in judo and jiu jitsu. He’s been around the block.

St. Martin: Outside of interviews, we don’t know too much about Vic.

Laprise: Yea I didn’t know Vic, really, at all. He’s 36, too, but not too much other than that. He was a nice guy but I really only knew his record, which I think is 6-2. Zein Saliba, his teammate, actually beat him a year or two before the show. We’ll just have to see what happens.

St. Martin: Now, to the mailbag.

Red eyes: Can you tell us something interesting and memorable that wasn’t included in the show?

Laprise: Hmmm, they actually told us not to talk too much about stuff that doesn’t make it into the episode. ‘If it’s not in the show, it never happened.’ But, some other guys have mentioned this in blogs, so I’d say Matthew Desroches‘ weight cut was pretty funny. He had a crazy experience. In the bath, he started hallucinating and going crazy. He was just speaking gibberish. I’ve never seen it in my life. He didn’t like cutting weight in the bath tub, but he didn’t really have a choice.

Saw18: Chad looks a bit like Fedor. Has anybody told him that? If yes, what does he think of it?

Laprise: Ha! No, I haven’t gotten Fedor but I’ve been told I look like Dan Henderson. Never Fedor. He’s one of the best all-time so I’ll take it as a compliment.

St. Martin: But he’s not an incredibly good looking man. How would you react? Would you want some more clarification about whether it’s physical appearance or fighting style?

Laprise: Yea, I’d definitely rather have his fighting skill than his looks. For sure. I’m a married man so I really don’t care what I look like anymore.

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.