Sheldon Westcott (8-1-1, 0-0 UFC) vs. Elias Theodorou (8-0, 0-0 UFC)
A member of Patrick Cote’s Team Canada will receive a six-figure contract in both the middleweight and welterweight finals on Wednesday night, but it will be a matter of which two of the four men earn it. In the middleweight finals, it will be Sheldon Westcott taking on Elias Theodorou as both men will be searching for their ninth career win. Westcott has won four straight fights and last fought just over a year ago when he knocked out Aaron Shymr. Theodorou is looking to remain undefeated in his professional career as he has won all eight of his fights. He is coming off a TKO win over Travis Clark in August.
Fight Breakdown- Team Canada teammates meet in the middleweight finals, and both men had very different roads to get there. It looked like there would be a Canada against Australia finals when Westcott and Theodorou were joined in the semi-finals by Team Australia members Tyler Manawaroa and Vik Grujic. Westcott got past Grujic by submitting him in the first round while Theodorou had a tougher time with Manawaroa. They went the full 15 minutes, but it was Theodorou who took home the unanimous decision in reaching the finals. Westcott was the more impressive fighter during their time on the show as both of his wins came by first-round submission while Theodorou had to go the distance in both of his fights. They have had plenty of time to prepare for their fight against each other, and training alongside of each other, they should feel comfortable and familiar when they step inside the Octagon on Wednesday night.
Westcott has been competing in MMA for a while as he made his debut in August 2007. He lost his debut by split decision, and it took a year to get his next fight. He has gone unbeaten then as he has had two four-fight win streaks, and a draw in between those streaks, to get him to his UFC debut. He has scored six of his eight wins by stoppage, and all six of those stoppage wins have come in the first round, with five of those happening in less than a minute. Both of his wins on the show also came in under a minute. He has fought as a welterweight during the duration of his career, but he moved up to middleweight for the TUF competition. Theodorou has been competing for just under three years, and he has eight fights under his belt. He has won all eight of those fights as well, so he will be putting up an undefeated record in an effort to secure the lucrative six-figure UFC contract. He doesn’t have quite as an impressive stoppage history as Westcott does, but he has shown the ability to win by all ways and at all distances. He has five wins by stoppage, but only two have been first-round stoppages. He has been the distance three times, and twice in the TUF Nations tournament, and he will be looking to get a big stoppage to earn the contract.
Theodorou is a huge middleweight as he typically walks around at about 215 pounds, so he will have a big size advantage over Westcott even before considering that Westcott is moving up in weight. Theodorou markets himself as a pretty boy, and his approach in a fight is sometimes anything but pretty. He likes to grind out his opponents, and with his size advantage over Westcott, he may be able to do that here. Westcott is a pressure fighter who has solid ground control, and he likes to get in some big takedowns. Neither man is scary on the feet but both have the capability to rock the other standing. Both men will be looking to drag the fight to the mat. Theodorou should have the wrestling edge with his size advantage, but Westcott is more slick on the ground in looking for submissions. Westcott did have injury issues on the show, so it will be interesting to see if he comes into this fight at 100 percent. Anything less and he will have his hands full with Theodorou. Both men are active on the ground, but it will come to whether Theodorou can control with ground-and-pound or if Westcott can hunt down and find the submission. Theodorou has excellent conditioning, and that will make a huge difference. Theodorou takes the decision.
Why It Matters- Both men want that guaranteed UFC contract, and the winner will get exactly that. The loser will likely get another shot inside the Octagon, especially when the abundance of events coming up in Canada as both will be solid additions for the locals to those cards. However, the loser may get only one more chance, so it will be important for both guys to win. Plus, they will make more money by winning. Theodorou is the younger fighter of the two and has a lot of upside, so Westcott will likely benefit more with a win. But that won’t make either man any less hungry. You will see both again, it is only a matter of how much will we see both in the future. The six-figure contract is waiting for someone to grab it.
Prediction- Theodorou
