Sheldon Westcott of St. Albert was the big winner on episode six of The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia.
Westcott, 29, defeated Daniel Kelly in the first round via submission with an arm-triangle choke on the TUF Nations reality television series produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The middleweight fight was taped last year and shown Wednesday on Sportsnet 360.
Westcott’s win put Team Canada on top 4-2 overall in the competition following two straight losses to Australia. Two quarter-final matches remain.
Westcott will now appear in a semifinal fight to be shown at a later date.
The elimination format pits Canadians against Australians in a series of fights, culminating with an appearance on the April 16 pay-per-view final in Quebec City.
There are four 185-pound middleweights and four 170-pound welterweights per team.
Westcott, who revealed early in the episode he was trying to recover from a leg injury before the fight, struck Kelly with a stiff uppercut to start off the action but a flurry of fists slammed the four-time judo Olympian to the mat.
Kelly returned to a vertical position but was sent sprawling to the mat. He looked to gain the upper hand by attacking Westcott’s injured knee but the Paul Kane High School alumnus quickly finished him off in 55 seconds.
Westcott, co-owner of the Complete Fitness and Martial Arts gym in Campbell Business Park, was 8-1-1 as a pro before the fight and Kelly, 36, was 6-0.
Luke Harris, a middleweight from St. Albert who owns the Hayabusa Training Centre in Campbell Business Park, is also on Team Canada and will fight Vik Grujik on the March 5 episode.
Harris, 36, is 10-2 as a pro.
The Len Sterling rink of St. Albert is competing for a berth at nationals during the masters 60-plus men’s provincial championship at the Jasper Place Curling Club.
Sterling was 1-1 to start the eight-team draw.
Visit www.northernalbertacurling.com for results.
If there are no tiebreakers, the semifinal is 7 p.m. tonight and the final is 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Nationals are March 31 to April 6 in Coaldale.
Sterling, third Neil Fleming, second Brian Kupsch and lead Doug de Bruijn qualified for provincials as the B-event winners at the 14-team Northern Alberta Curling Association playdowns in St. Albert.
St. Albert curlers fell short of a return trip to the Canadian senior 50-plus championships during provincial action last weekend in Calgary.
Wade White’s third-place rink at the 2013 nationals, with Dan Holowaychuk of St. Albert at second, lost the men’s final 8-2 in seven ends to Mark Johnson of the Grande Prairie Curling Club.
Johnson stole a deuce in three and one in four to lead 5-0.
Johnson also beat White in the round robin 8-5 in nine ends.
In the semifinal White rocked Brad Hannah of the Saville Community Sports Centre 10-4 in eight ends.
Last year in the provincial final White downed Hannah 9-2 in eight ends at the Granite Curling Club.
Johnson, third Kurt Balderston, second Rob Bucholz and lead Del Shaughnessy finished 7-1 overall.
White’s rink from the Crestwood Curling Club, with Dean Ross at third and George Parsons at lead, was 6-3.
Doug McLennan of St. Albert was White’s third last year.
In the women’s draw the Deb Santos rink from the St. Albert Curling Club lost the semifinal 10-6 in nine ends to Glenys Bakker of the Calgary Winter Club.
A four-ender in seven by Bakker made it 9-4 against last year’s national silver medallist.
In the round robin Santos doubled Bakker 10-5 in nine ends.
In the final Bakker scored two in 10 to defeat Terri Loblaw of the host North Hill Community Curling Club 6-5 to go 6-3 overall.
Santos, third Jackie Rae Greening, second Diana McNallie and lead Glenna Rubin finished 5-2.
Diana Backer of St. Albert was Santos’ second last year.
