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Sir Isaac Newton's first law of motion states "every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it." In more simplified terms, an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.
This particular set of rules is usually most commonly seen in classrooms and not in the Octagon, but when you start to think about how momentum can affect a fighter's performance and psyche, the laws of motion start to take on a different kind of meaning for MMA.
Through two episodes of The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Team Canada vs. Team Australia thus far, all of the momentum has landed on the side of coach Patrick Cote and his group of Canucks. Following Kajan Johnson's win, Elias Theodorou kept the ball rolling with his performance to put the Canadians up 2-0 in the competition with both a welterweight and middleweight moving on to the show's semifinals.
So as the third fight of the season gets closer, the pressure on the Australians is amped up, particularly on coach Kyle Noke to get his next team member ready to hopefully stop the bleeding and become that objectionable force blocking the Canadians from continuing on their winning ways.
The fight this time falls into the awaiting hands of Australian slugger Chris Indich, who comes to the show with a 6-1 record overall, and he's no stranger to adversity. Growing up in the outback of Australia, Indich learned to fight for his survival at an early age, but after battling his way out of poverty and on to The Ultimate Fighter, it's hard to imagine he's going to go away easy.
On the other side of the Octagon stands undefeated Chad Laprise, with a 7-0 record and some bold predictions about what he has planned for Indich and the other fighters he will face this season.
Laprise is a devout Christian who has built his reputation in MMA on being a fierce knockout artist. Out of his seven wins, Laprise has put four opponents to sleep by knockout, and he's hoping to add a fifth when he faces Indich in his opening round bout for the tournament.
The Canadians have been ultra confident thus far in the competition, and it started to bleed over into the house, where the Australians have taken plenty of notice, and it should be serving as a huge motivation going into the third fight of the season this week.
On paper, Laprise had to be viewed as one of the favorites coming into the season given his dominant wins and experience edge in bigger shows. He's fought on the national stage a couple of times in the past, and he trains with UFC notables such as Jesse Ronson.
Laprise is actually going up in weight for The Ultimate Fighter competition, having fought at lightweight prior to the show, which could play into his opponent's hand, given the fact that Indich is on the opposite end of the spectrum. Indich is a middleweight who dropped down to welterweight to appear on The Ultimate Fighter, which is a more natural division for him given his size and dimensions.
Indich is a strong fighter with wins by both submission and TKO, although the ground game is likely his best plan of attack against a standup fighter such as Laprise. Indich has worked quite a bit in the past with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Robert Drysdale, so his ground game is definitely on point if the fight hits the mat. Indich is a dark horse favorite to go a long way in this competition, but he didn't get any favors from the Canadian coach putting him up against arguably one of their strongest fighters in Laprise.
Laprise won't have to cut much weight, plus he's got speed and agility on his side. If he can avoid the takedowns from Indich and not get overzealous with his striking attacks, Laprise should be able to control the action and keep the fight standing. If he's overconfident, however, Indich is more than capable of taking advantage and notching the first win for Team Australia.
As tempers start to get shorter and shorter in the house as the Canadian's swagger grows, will there be a bowling over point from the Australians, either before or after this fight takes place?
The only way to know for sure is to tune into The Ultimate Fighter Nations tonight at 10pm ET/PT on FOX Sports 2 to find out.
