The first middleweight fight of the season proved to be an unsuccessful one for the Australian team in TUF Nations as BJJ Brown Belt Zein Saliba lost a unanimous decision to undefeated Canadian Elias Theodorou. The two fought in the second episode which premiered on FX Australia on Thursday afternoon.
The episode started with the Canadian team celebrating Kajan Johnson’s win from last week’s episode where the Canadian veteran submitted Aussie Brendan O’Reilly. Both teams were in the house winding down, with members of the Australian team quizzing Elias Theodorou about his career who was happy to oblige and tell them a thing or two.
His team-mate Nordine Taleb caught wind of the talking and immediately called a meeting and reminded his Canadian team mates not to get too friendly with the opposition and reveal something the Aussie team may not know.
Coach Cote brought in experienced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion Vitor Ribeiro to help prepare the team while the striking coach Adrian Pang has also arrived to assist with the Australian team.
The weigh-in had a extended stare-down from both Theodorou and Saliba, with the Canadian ending it with a ‘scratch’ cat motion. Throughout the episode the Canadian team referred to Saliba as a BJJ Black Belt however truth is that Saliba only recently got his brown belt and definitely has not been promoted to black belt as of yet.
Cote and his coaching staff stopped by at the lodge to visit his team and offer some nutrition advice to his fighters, while the Australian team celebrated Daniel Kelly’s birthday with a cake that mainly ended up on Kelly’s face and started a food fight within the team.
When the real fight began, it would be Theodorou who immediately pressed the action against the cage where he looked for a takedown. The two exchanged positions against the cage as well as short strikes before Theodorou secured a takedown. The Canadian couldn’t keep Saliba down though, however he was able to secure a couple more takedowns later in the round to secure the round.
Saliba came out aggressive in the second round, attempting to throw a big superman elbow, which allowed Theodorou to change levels and push the action against the cage. Theodorou didn’t waste any-time securing the double-leg takedown. Saliba immediately went on the offensive off his back, looking for a submission however Theodorou was having none of it and protected his neck and limbs. Eventually Saliba managed to wriggle back to his feet, but a front headlock from Theodorou again took the fight to the canvas where the Canadian was able to move to full mount and then side-control. Saliba was able to get out and took his opponents back however the Sydney based fighter was to eager and the hooks came out, allowing Theodorou to escape near the end of the round. (Watch Full Fight)
A deserving win for Theodorou who took the unanimous decision. In the dressing room, Coach Noke was furiour with the loss before explaining that he was not blaming Saliba but just just hated losing in general. We quickly moved to the next fight announcement with Western Australian fighter Chris Indich chosen to face Chad Laprise from Canada.
Check out the action next Thursday from 4:30pm AEDT on FX Australia.
