(The brutal knockout takes place at the 9:58 mark).
The Ultimate Fighter: Nations featured a nasty, bone-breaking knockout Wednesday evening, as Canadian teammates Chad Laprise and Kajan Johnson squared off in semifinals action.
After each man won his opening-round fight in dominant fashion, the matchup between Laprise and Johnson was highly anticipated.
Fans felt they would be in for a treat; they got one.
The two fighters spent the majority of two rounds engaging in a stand-up war.
While Laprise seemed to have a better jab and a slight speed advantage, Johnson worked his kicks well, and he mixed things up by attempting a takedown in Round 1. Laprise shrugged it off, however, and the momentum seemed to swing back his way.
In Round 2, Laprise continued to find his range, and he began to fish for a ferocious overhand right. He whiffed two or three times, but as Johnson moved in to attempt an attack of his own, Laprise threw another one, and it landed flush, sending Johnson face-first into the canvas.
While Johnson's limp body tumbling to the mat offered a scary sight for viewers, the sound of this knockout makes it truly vicious and unforgettable.
The crack of Laprise's hand connecting with Johnson's jaw (or was that the sound of Johnson's jaw splitting into pieces?) and the subsequent smash into the floor by Johnson was deafening, and it brought another dimension to the brutality we often see inside the Octagon.
Like we have seen—and heard—on previous seasons of The Ultimate Fighter, the serene, no-crowd, no-applause nature of the show's fights allows you to hear everything that happens inside the cage, making these fights seem realer than ever.
After the knockout, things did not get better for Johnson (or the viewers' emotions).
Sitting on a stool, he slurred his words and mumbled through a bloodied mouth, a result of the broken jaw he sustained during the knockout.
Since the two were teammates, emotions flowed for the entirety of Team Canada and its coaches, including head coach and UFC welterweight Patrick Cote.
This is the nature of the game; this is the risk they inherit when they sign up for the show.
Let's hope Johnson can heal up and rebound quickly. He was definitely one of the few bright spots in a relatively slow and forgettable season of The Ultimate Fighter.
Thanks to this devastating finish, Laprise will represent Team Canada in the TUF: Nations Finale on April 16 in Quebec City.
