Team Canada blog: Kajan Johnson on 'TUF Nations,' episode No. 3

OK, first of all, can I start by saying that me and this narrator have beef now? Right off the bat in this episode, he’s all, “This week on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’” the Canadians get cocky…” What? We weren’t cocky! Who is this dude? Is he Australian? American? Or is he another Canadian traitor? Maybe him and Jonathan Chaimberg should be besties.

Anyways, we start off with Tyler Manawaroa blowing the didgeridoo at like 8 o’clock in the morning. I’m thinking it was him trying to get us back for being loud the night before. Maybe we were a little loud, but that was unintentional. This is straight-up disrespect. Who does that? Apparently Tyler.

Our whole team was pissed at him but Nordine Taleb was the angriest. Like I’ve said, Nordine don’t play no games; he wants to literally dissect Tyler’s body. Where I come from, we have a saying: Don’t poke the bear. Well, Tyler just slapped the bear in the face with a dead salmon. Not a good look, brah.

Chris Indich and Chad Laprise are two of the quieter guys in the house. At this point, I didn’t really know much about Chris other than that he seemed to be a nice guy. He was always respectful, cleaned up after himself and seemed to know how to cook and eat clean. Truthfully, he was one of my favorites from their team. Chad was very similar. He just did his thing – always up early, worked hard and read his Bible everyday. I really appreciate it when fighters are in touch with their spirituality because I think that’s a part of life that is often overlooked in this sport.

Now the Aussies go to their training session, and in enters Jon Chaimberg. Now the obvious question is why is a Canadian guy coaching the Australian team AGAINST Team Canada? Now, not only is he Canadian, but he has trained three members of our team (including me) and is closely affiliated with Tristar Gym, where four members (that’s half of Team Canada) train and spar at least three times a week. I think it may be a little bit of a conflict of interest for him to have watched half of our team spar for multiple years and now go and coach guys to try and kill us. I think Patrick Cote said it best: He is thinking about himself. This is probably the most disloyal thing I have ever seen from a coach, and I’ve been around a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of shady coaches.

OK, so Team Canada comes in, and we see this guy. Chad hugs him or whatever, but you know me, I say it how it is. I call him a traitor right on the spot with the cameras right on him. He looked really embarrassed, but that’s his karma. Karma ain’t got no menu, you get served what you deserve.

After training, we get back to the house to find that the Aussies have covered our moose with tampons and socks and such. We don’t really care about this. It’s not like it makes us mad or anything, but we still take ‘em down so that they don’t win any battles. No matter what, we win, you lose. No soup for you!!

Nordine getting in the ice bath was hilarious!! Apparently we have found the chink in his armor. Being born in the south of France, he really really hates the cold. Now don’t get me wrong, ice baths suck; they’re not fun. But I’ve never seen such a tough guy whine so much getting into one. Guy starts doing some ninja breathing techniques, and we’re like, “OK, he’s finally getting in,” but he still just stands there, knee deep. He is such a character.

It’s really cool for me to watch the Aussies train now that it’s all over because really, we only saw them fight, and how people train and how they fight can be so different. Chris really opens up to the camera about his past, his upbringing and the abuse he’s suffered. He talks about struggling with anger issues and how fighting has helped him to deal with them. It’s nice to get this inside view because I never saw that from him in the house. He was always pleasant, never angry or spiteful. Really a very respectable guy. I’m glad he was on the season.

Chad was looking so on point for this fight. His standup is high level, he has power in both hands, he’s hard to take down and even harder to keep down. Our team was really working well together, helping each other to be the best that we could be. We were killing it, working like we were losing so that we could keep on winning.

In the back of my mind, I know that it is very possible that I will fight one of my teammates. Sometimes it is difficult because I can’t really talk about it with any of them because they are still focusing on their first fights. I do a good job of putting it out of my head though so our team can prosper. We need to sweep this season. Once all four welterweights are through to the semifinals, then I will deal with what comes next.

People say that you can’t teach experience. It’s something that only comes by putting in the time, and it affects everything from the mental game of fighting to the physical prep to the fight, itself. Some people are born to fight, and I believe that Tyler is one of them. He is 10-0. He’s Maori, so that warrior blood is in his veins, but he is still young and lacking in experience. You can see this by his diet and ability to sacrifice for his goal. He doesn’t train well through minor injuries and is the opposite of disciplined with his diet.

Eating right is huge in MMA. I personally try to eat only organic, non-processed, whole foods leading up to a fight. Even though this show is 15 pounds higher than my usual weight class and I don’t have to worry about weight, I eat for performance. I may cheat once in a while, but for the most part I eat superfood because you get out of your body what you put into it. I, for one, want to be operating at my best so I give my body what it needs. I say all this because I’m seeing Tyler “diet,” and he’s eating four boiled eggs and an avocado. I get what he’s doing by cutting carbs, but four eggs? Maybe you should eat a salad, brah, with some fish. Just saying.

So Chad and Chris both made weight, and Chad takes a page out of the Diaz brothers’ handbook for the staredown. He went hands up high, got real close and grilled him mad hard! Indich didn’t look phased by this, though, so it looks like it’s going to be a great scrap. I didn’t think Chris had what it takes to expose Chad’s weaknesses. I thought Chad should be able to sprawl him out and pick him apart.

Our change room was on point for this fight. I was getting everyone hella hype, rapping and yelling random motivational s–t. When Chad started to hit the pads, he was fire! They don’t show much, but you can still see the difference in the energy between our dressing rooms. Ours is full of warriors, confident and chanting. Yelling “EYY!” with every thunderous strike, Chad throws on the pads. Theirs is relaxed, quiet, maybe even unsure. I know that the atmosphere you warm up in plays a huge part in the victory, so I make sure to do my part to create that atmosphere.

When Indich came out to the cage, he looked very big. He must have put on 15 pounds since the weigh-in the day before. At that moment, I knew this would be a great test for Chad but that he would be more than up to the task. They stood across from each other in the cage, both focused, both confident. The ref says, “Fight!” and they come together. Chad seemed a little hesitant to throw, possibly worried about Chris’ takedown. They felt each other out for a few seconds before Chad beats Chris to the punch and landed his first jab. Chad continued to move side to side and feint and land jabs. He had very good movement, and I could already see that Chris was having a hard time getting his timing.

Chad continued his outside, long-range striking assault, landing jabs and low kicks. Chris was opening up more now, throwing hard overhand rights but hitting air and forearms. It’s very difficult to hit a good mover with powershots unless you can corner them on the fence. Chris may have realized this because he began to land a few jabs of his own. Chad, however, continued to build momentum, landing low kicks and jabs seemingly at will. He definitely had a speed advantage over the slightly larger opponent. Chad’s confidence continued to grow as he threw and barely missed the first head kick of the fight. He has a really sneaky head kick game. If he lands one of those, it could be – in the words of the Aussie Michael Schiavello – “Good night, Irene!!”

Chad was starting to throw more combos now and ended one with a body kick that sounded like someone hitting a tree with a dead salmon (I know I talk about hitting things with dead salmon a lot, but I don’t care. Thats what it sounded like). Chris must’ve seen the urgency now, as he began to put on more pressure and landed a combo of his own. It seemed that Chad didn’t like the pressure much, and if Indich could continue it, I thought he might have been able to switch the momentum of the fight.

They were both throwing bombs. It was a real scrap! Chris was continuing to pressure Chad, but Chad fired back with a combo of his own, rocking Chris with a left hook, right hand and then throwing another bullet right hand right in between Chris’ guard. Chris backed up to the fence; he was hurt. If Chad poured it on there he may have been able to finish, but he circled out and played it safe. Chris continued to try to pressure Chad, and Chad made him pay while moving back and angling off. With 30 seconds left, Chad looked to be somewhat coasting. I think he knew he had done enough to win the round and didn’t want to risk it. He ended the round with a definitive head kick though, just in case the judges weren’t sure who was winning.

Second round, and it looked to be more of the same: Chad circling and throwing quick, precise shots and Chris throwing power bombs with less accuracy. I’m really surprised that Chris wasn’t shooting more. Apparently, the Aussie coaches once again didn’t do their homework and didn’t know that Chad is a pure striker. His whole game is tailored to it. If I was them, I would be forcing him to wrestle so that if nothing else, his arms would tire and there would be less on his shots. Chris seemed content to stand with him though, getting picked apart while hoping to land one big shot to sway the momentum in his favor. I’ll give him one thing though, he sure is tough. He’s walking forward, eating jabs like a fat kid eats cake at a birthday party and doesn’t seem to be worried one bit about it.

Finally he shot but was easily pancaked by Chad and payed for it with a kick to the forearms. Still, the Aussie walked forward. This guy would not break! Chad landed a one-two and a body kick that was caught by Indich. He attempted to seize the opportunity to take Chad down and pressed him to the fence. Chad, though, is able to pummel in, get underhooks and spin off. Both fighters seemed to be tiring now. Chad was still moving but was throwing less and Chris had taken the pressure off a bit. This would have been the best time for Chris to mount an attack. There was just under three minutes left in the fight, and he needed to win the round if he wanted to stay in the tournament. If he could sense that Chad was slowing, he needed to pour it on and convince not only the judges but convince Chad that his win wasn’t a sure thing.

It looks like Chris sees this and lands perhaps his best combo of the fight to this point. Chad backpedaled and reset but didn’t counter immediately. They both continued to exchange single strikes, but neither displayed the urgency necessary to finish the fight. Chad continued to land jabs and right hands. Chris attempted to catch him, but it looked like Chad would just prove too slick for him. Just before the bell sounded, Chad threw a beautiful, picture-perfect spinning back kick, his heel digging into Chris’ ribs. I have no idea how Chris was still standing after that. Chad smelled blood and threw another spinning kick – to the face this time – that narrowly misses.

With a finish like that, it was very clear to our whole team that Chad won both rounds and we would keep control of the pick. The fighters awaited the inevitable decision on their stools, just in case the judges were blind and there would be a third, tiebreaker round. The ref called them to the center, and it was almost official. We know we won, unless the judges had mental problems. Crazier things have happened though. Finally, the referee raised Chad’s hand, and we were victorious.

Immediately after the decision, our team erupted! Soon after though, we calmed down. I was becoming more conscious of the feelings of our opposing team. It must be hard to keep losing like that. I made sure I went up to all of them and congratulated them on a hard fight. There’s nothing I can say to make it any better, but I definitely tried to calm myself and celebrate a little less then I otherwise would.

We kept control over the picks, and we selected Nordine to go out for our team. Nordine is a very high-level striker, one of the best I’ve ever trained with. The versatility of his striking game is unmatched on our team, and he was my pick to win this season at 185 pounds. This guy is so intense with everything he does, so you know the fight pick is going to be intense. When Nordine called out Tyler on to the mat, it was next level. The camera captured it pretty well, but the amount of tension and energy in the air when the two of them squared off was incredible. It felt like the whole room was going to explode like a hydrogen bomb. This wasn’t going to be a competition or a match. This, my friends, was going to be a WAR!

Oh, just so you know, When Jake Matthews said, “You’re going to sleep, brah!” he was saying it to mess with me. Their whole team had started to copy the way that I talk to get under my skin. I liked it though. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, brah!

I know I say every time that you don’t want to miss this next one, but you REALLY don’t want to miss this next episode! It’s going to be next-level savagery.

Again, I’ve got to shout out to all my people and supporters, www.eon4life.com, Nuckl Apparel and all my people back in Burns Lake, Prince George and Vancity! Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?!

“TUF Nations” cast member “Ragin” Kajan Johnson (19-10-1) blogs each week exclusively for MMAjunkie. The Team Canada welterweight takes readers behind the scenes of the FOX Sports 1-broadcast series, which airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET. Catch Johnson on Twitter at @iamragin and check out his official website at www.raginmma.com.