TUF Nations: Luke Harris Fighter Blog, Episode 7
By: Riley Kontek February 26, 2014
Follow Luke onTwitter @HayabusaHarris
The episode started with Brendan O'Reilly and Vik Grujic confronting Kajan Johnson about saying, “He’s done” after Dan Kelly’s fight and injury. Team Canada was definitely excited with the win and cheered, but I think the “He’s done” comment was largely taken out of context. Emotions run high after a fight. Glad to hear that nothing was torn and Dan can resume training and teaching at home. He has so many great things in his life that this experience is really just that, an experience.
Jake Matthews is looking awesome in practice. I expect great things out of this kid in this sport. It’s almost like he’s meeting his nemesis in this competition.
Olivier Aubin-Mercier is very skilled as well, and I see him as the future of the sport. Like myself, he has a background in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He’s a great grappler. Anyone on the ground with this kid will have trouble.
Olivier left the sport of judo to pursue MMA, with his main influence being GSP. He’s had him as a mentor from the start. Oli is also the only one on our team who is a parent. He has a young daughter at home and had to miss her third birthday while on the show. There are lots of sacrifices as a fighter.
It made me laugh when I read the caption under his name reading “Book lover.” Oli is a quiet guy but one of my favorite people in the house for sure. He’s really a good person and very funny, sometimes unintentionally.
Testing out the Xbox One was a great escape from the competition. Chris Indich won and got to go for a ride in the Ferrari, driven by producer Danny McNair, who is a great guy. Jake would have probably won but succumbed to our trash talk. Oli and Dan Kelly were simply horrible at the game. Come on guys, you have kids, get practicing!
I helped Oli cut weight, and he made it easily. Oli is a natural 155er. Jake made weight as well.
Fight time, Oli transformed from his usual jovial self to a serial killer-like state. It dubbed him the nickname Dexter. He didn’t want us to clap or cheer as he walked in. He said he wanted the atmosphere to feel like a funeral for Jake. I’m telling you, this guy is hilarious.
The fight started with Jake slightly getting the better of Oli on the feet. Oli has never truly been tested in his MMA career, and he really said that he wanted to “feel the punches.” This strategy concerned me, but he did it before the fight ended up on the ground.
Once it hit there, the fight was one-sided. Oli dominated. His top control is incredible, and he has a great way of using the body triangle, switching it from one side to the other. It’s a testament to Jake’s ground ability for not getting submitted. Oli is just a beast on the ground, eventually winning via unanimous decision.
I truly believe that both guys are the future of the sport.
After the fight, Oli wasn’t that happy with his performance, but a win is a win. He can look to improve on it in the semis. He was more happy about winning in Xbox One than winning the fight!
Next, it's finally my turn to fight against Vik. I’m definitely confident that this is my fight, although I have lots of respect for Vik. Let's see what happens!
To read more, go to my Team Canada blog on www.Bleacherreport.com