UFC 186 Prelim Breakout Star: Olivier Aubin-Mercier

The Prelim Breakout Star is a once per event article that helps fans get to know those who will be entertaining them from the undercard. The intention of the article is not to bring attention to the most talented guy on the preliminary card, but rather one that the common fan may have overlooked or underestimated.

Riding high on a five-card win streak, Prelim Breakout Star delves into UFC 186 this weekend. While this card hasn’t garnered a lot of attention for the people fighting on it, it has been one rich with legal precedent. Hopefully that’s all settled now and we can focus on the fights. Here’s a fighter who has been lucky enough to stay out of the courtroom leading up to his fight.

Olivier Aubin-Mercier

Nickname – The Quebec Kid
Affiliation – Tristar MMA
From – Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height – 5’9”
Weight – 155 lbs (Lightweight)
Record – 5-1 (1-1 UFC)

What makes him impressive

At twenty-six years old, Aubin-Mercier doesn’t exactly have the most in-cage experience. He has only fought six times total and only two of them have been under the UFC banner. Still, the kid has top notch grappling chops. As a teenager, he was working to make the Canadian national judo team when he discovered MMA. His black belt in judo has been integrated seamlessly into an MMA game, which also includes a brown belt in jiu jitsu. This makes it tough to keep your feet against him and even tougher to stay in the game once you’re down.

Why he has been overlooked

As the runner up on a TUF Nations season, he was seen as an after thought to the show. However, what people have failed to recognize is the level of talent on that season. Along with the winner Chad Laprise, there were many notable fighters in his bracket. Amongst them was former Prelim Breakout Star, Jake Matthews. Jake has been on a tear as of late, but people seem to forget that Aubin-Mercier took him out in the first round of the show.

What makes this a good matchup

Aubin-Mercier seemed to have a bit of trouble with the aforementioned Chad Laprise due to his takedown defense. Leprise stuffed seven of The Quebec Kid’s nine takedowns. Takedown defense, though, is exactly what got David Michaud into trouble against Li Jingliang. Takedowns in two of three rounds left him on the wrong side of the judges’ scorecards. He’ll have to have much improved defense to keep Aubin-Mercier at bay as his takedowns are even better than Li’s. Not to mention, his finishing rate is significantly higher as well.

Record: 58 Wins, 31 Losses, 1 NC,  2 Did Not Fight (DNF)

1. Francisco Trinaldo – UFC on FX: Belfort vs Bisping (W)
2. Simeon Thoresen – UFC on Fox: Johnson vs Dodson (L)
3. Tyron Woodley – UFC 156 (W)
4. Vaughan Lee – UFC on Fuel: Barao vs McDonald (W)
5. Dennis Bermudez – UFC 157 (W)
6. Cristiano Marcello – UFC on Fuel: Stann vs Silva (L)
7. Daron Cruickshank – UFC 158 (L)
8. Ryan LaFlare – UFC on Fuel: Mousasi vs Latifi (W)
9. Bart Palaszewski – TUF Finale (L)
10. Yoel Romero – UFC on Fox: Henderson vs Melendez (W)
11. Rustam Khabilov – UFC 159 (W)
12. Fabio Maldonado – UFC on FX: Belfort vs Rockhold (W)
13. Khabib Nurmagomedov – UFC 160 (W)
14. Antonio Braga Neto – UFC on Fuel: Nogueira vs Werdum (W)
15. Roland Delorme – UFC 161 (W)
16. Seth Baczynski – UFC 162 (L)
17. Jorge Masvidal – UFC on Fox: Johnson vs Moraga (W)
18. Ednaldo Oliveira – UFC 163 (L)
19. Mike Brown – UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Sonnen (L)
20. Dylan Andrews – UFC Fight Night: Condit vs Kampmann (W)
21. Soa Palelei – UFC 164 (W)
22. Elias Silverio – UFC Fight Night: Teixeira vs Bader (W)
23. John Makdessi – UFC 165 (W)
24. Alan Patrick – UFC Fight Night: Maia vs Shields (W)
25. Andre Fili – UFC 166 (W)
26. Jimy Hettes – UFC Fight Night: Machida vs Munoz (W)
27. Germaine de Randamie – UFC Fight for the Troops 3 (L)
28. Omari Akhmedov – UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs Henderson (W)
29. Sergio Pettis – UFC 167 (W)
30. Roxanne Modafferi – TUF Finale (L)
31. Takeya Mizugaki – UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs Bigfoot (W)
32. Alptekin Ozkilic – UFC on Fox: Johnson vs Benavidez (W)
33. Siyar Bahadurzada – UFC 168 (L)
34. Mairbek Taisumov – UFC Fight Night: Saffiedine vs Lim (W)
35. Charlie Brenneman – UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs Philippou (L)
36. Walt Harris – UFC on Fox: Henderson vs Thompson (L)
37. Clint Hester – UFC 169 (W)
38. Joe Proctor – UFC Fight Night: Machida vs Mousasi (W)
39. Aljamain Sterling – UFC 170 (W)
40. Zak Cummings – TUF China Finale (DNF)
41. Cyrille Diabate – UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs Manuwa (L)
42. Mats Nilsson – UFC Fight Night: Gustafsson vs Manuwa (L)
43. Alex Garcia – UFC 171 (W)
44. Hans Stringer – UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Henderson (W)
45. Jim Alers – UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs Nelson (W)
46. Ryan Jimmo – TUF Finale (W)
47. Caio Magalhaes – UFC on Fox: Werdum vs Browne (W)
48. Joe Ellenberger – UFC 172 (DNF)
49. Kyoji Horiguchi – UFC Fight Night: Brown vs Silva (W)
50. Francisco Trinaldo – UFC 173 (L)
51. Iuri Alcantara – UFC FIght Night: Mousasi vs Munoz (W)
52. Paulo Thiago – TUF Brazil Finale (L)
53. Jon Tuck – UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs Khabilov (W)
54. Mike Easton – UFC 174 (L)
55. Ian Entwistle – UFC Fight Night: Marquardt vs Te Huna (L)
56. Ray Borg – UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs Stevens (W)
57. Rob Font – UFC 175 (W)
58. Derrick Lewis – TUF Finale (W)
59. Jessamyn Duke – UFC Fight Night: Cerrone vs Miller (L)
60. Nikita Krylov – UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs Brandao (W)
61. Patrick Cummins – UFC on Fox: Lawler vs Brown (W)
62. Sam Alvey – UFC Fight Night: Bader vs Saint Preux (L)
63. Yuta Sasaki – UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs Le (W)
64. Ben Saunders – UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs dos Anjos (W)
65. Damon Jackson – UFC 177 (L)
66. Chas Skelly – UFC Fight Night: Jacare vs Mousasi (W)
67. Godofredo ‘Pepey’ Castro – UFC Fight Night: Bigfoot vs Arlovski (W)
68. Alex Caceres – UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs Nelson (L)
69. Cody Gibson – UFC 178 (L)
70. Marcin Bandel – UFC Fight Night: Nelson vs Story (L)
71. Jason Saggo -UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs Saffiedine (L)
72. Yan Cabral – UFC 179 (W)
73. Jake Mathews – UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs Bisping (W)
74. Thomas Almeida – UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Saint Preux (W)
75. Gabriel Benitez – UFC 180 (W)
76. Paige VanZant – UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs Swanson (W)
77. Clay Collard – UFC 181 (W)
78. Aisling Daly – TUF Finale (W)
79. Jamie Varner – UFC on Fox 13 (L)
80. Jake Collier – UFC Fight Night: Machida vs Dollaway (L)
81. Alexis Dufresne – UFC 182 (L)
82. Charles Rosa – UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs Siver (W)
83. Konstantin Erokhin – UFC on Fox: Gustafsson vs Johnson (L)
84. Sara McMann – UFC 183 (L)
85. James Moontasri – UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs Thatch (W)
86. William ‘Patolino’ Macario – UFC Fight Night: Bigfoot vs Mir (L)
87. Norifumi ‘Kid’ Yamamoto – UFC 184 – (NC)
88. Joseph Duffy – UFC 185 (W)
89. Christos Giagos – UFC Fight Night: Maia vs LaFlare (W)
90. Ron Stallings – UFC Fight Night: Lamas vs Mendes (W)
91. Stevie Ray – UFC Fight Night: Gonzaga vs Cro Cop 2 (W)
92. Beneil Dariush – UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs Machida (W)