The big night in Vancouver that was UFC 289, which saw every Canadian fighter on the card pick up wins, did not go unnoticed by the current biggest name in Canadian MMA, Olivier Aubin-Mercier.
OAM currently holds the fort for Canadian MMA, as the defending 2022 PFL lightweight champion. With TriStar teammates and fellow champs Georges St-Pierre (UFC welterweight and middleweight champ) and Rory MacDonald (Bellator MMA welterweight champ) retired, Aubin-Mercier remains the most decorated fighter in the nation.
The UFC hadn’t been to Canada in over three years before it returned to the Rogers Arena in Vancouver earlier this month, and Aubin-Mercier was thrilled to see the success of his fellow Canadians.
“What’s the name of the guy from Toronto, I’m not sure— anyway the guy looked like me, but evil me. He won by guillotine I think,” former UFC lightweight Aubin-Mercier noted during Wednesday’s PFL 6 media day. “I was so happy with their performance. I think we needed that, I think Canada needed. It was awesome to see.”
“Aiemann [Zahabi] fought super well, Marc-Andre [Barriault] fought super well, I forgot everybody else. But everybody fought well, I was really impressed with the event, continued Aubin-Mercier. “I was really happy, really really happy.”
Olivier Aubin-Mercier fights fellow Canadian Anthony Romero this Friday in Atlanta, GA. And as has been the norm for the Canadian, there’s been no hard sparring ahead of the fight.
“I do light sparring just to keep my mind sharp,” he said on Wednesday, noting that he forgoes heavier gloves, and doesn’t do any sparring where partners are trying to land heavy/knockout blows. On top of that, “I don’t get hit a lot in training I would say.”
That approach appears to be paying off for “The Canadian Gangster,” who has won seven straight fights and is unbeaten since parting ways with the UFC in 2019.
Watch the full 2023 PFL 6 media day appearance by Olivier Aubin-Mercier above.
