Quality over quantity at today's 'TUF: Nations' tryouts in Toronto

TORONTO – Today’s tryouts for “The Ultimate Fighter: Nations” produced a wide array of personalities. But the theme of the day was quality over quantity.

More than 100 applicants signed up to try out at The Westin Harbour Castle in downtown Toronto; however, just 70 or so middleweights and welterweights showed up to display their talents.

Attendees included Alex Ricci, Elias Theodorou, Olivier Aubin-Mercier, Luke Harris, Kajan Johnson, Ryan Dickson, Matt MacGrath, Chad Laprise, Jarod Milko and other veterans of the Canadian fight circuit.

Each province was represented by at least one fighter at the tryouts, a fact UFC Director of Canadian Operations Tom Wright believes is representative of the sport’s maturity in the country.

“I’m feeling really good about the turnout,” Wright told MMAjunkie.com. “People love to fight for their country, and I’ve already got the sense guys are starting to come together as a team.”

UFC matchmakers Joe Silva and Sean Shelby were on scene to evaluate the talent. Each fighter participated in a 90-second grappling match with a fellow prospective cast member. The fighters then hit mitts.

Silva was particularly impressed with the amount of quality prospects looking for a spot on the international edition of the UFC’s long-running reality series, which has launched the career of nearly 200 UFC fighters.

“I’m really happy with the turnout,” Silva told MMAjunkie.com. “It wasn’t a huge amount of people, but we had the same thing in Australia, where not a whole lot of people (tried out). But most of the people that turned out were real guys.

“Sometimes we have big turnouts, but you get a lot of joke guys – guys who don’t belong. But here, there are a lot of talented guys.”

The process of selecting the cast of Canadian fighters, who will compete against a team of Australians, isn’t entirely up to Silva, though. He also considers the opinion of fellow matchmaker Shelby, and once the group is whittled down to a specific number, the show’s producers make the final selections.

“I take guys and I say, ‘These are real fighters, real legitimate guys,’” Silva said of the selection process. “I sift through a pool of fighters, and they go to the producers, and the producers will pick the best personalities out of those.”

Unlike previous “TUF” series, the upcoming season is produced by “Those Canadians,” a media group with a known history of delivering high quality reality show programming. Canadian Patrick Cote and Australian Kyle Noke serve as head coaches.

Once casting is complete, filming begins in mid-October. Starting in January, the show will air under the FOX umbrella in the U.S., Rogers in Canada, TVA in Quebec and FX in Australia

At 31 years of age, Ricci (7-1) was one of the older fighters in attendance, but with just under three years of pro experience under his belt, he doesn’t have the same kind of miles on his body as other fighters his age. The Ontario native’s only career loss came to recent UFC debutant Jesse Ronson.

Theodorou (8-0) is an undefeated fighter also out of the province of Ontario and is capable of fighting everywhere. “The Spartan” has spent most of his career competing for Canadian organizations; however, he did have a one-fight stint under the Bellator MMA banner in 2012.

Aubin-Mercier (4-0) is one of the few French-Canadians who showed up for tryouts, and the 24-year-old may be the most hyped prospect of any to try out. The fighter, who trains at H2O MMA along with Montreal’s Tristar Gym, has admittedly had difficulties finding opponents in recent months, which led him to today’s tryouts and hopes of a UFC contract.

The names of fighters ultimately selected to appear on the show are kept under wraps by UFC officials until a public release, typically several weeks before the show begins airing.

(Pictured: Joe Silva and Sean Shelby)