Jesse Taylor faces Thales Leites.

BY JAMES BRYDON
sportsnet.ca

This week the MMA world has their focus on Montreal, but Friday night in Edmonton there is another big fight between two former UFC fighters.

One year removed from his UFC middleweight title shot against Anderson Silva, Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Thales Leites looks to move himself into contention for the Maximum Fighting Championship’s 185-pound belt when he takes on Jesse Taylor, he of The Ultimate Fighter fame, in the main event MFC 25: Vindication at the Northlands Expo Centre.

In April 2009, Leites was at the high point of his MMA career -- he was in Montreal for the UFC’s second event in Canada, riding a five-fight win streak and challenging for the belt. But after five rounds spent mostly doing anything he could to avoid trouble from the champion, Leites was handed a loss and was left questioned by fans and an upset UFC president Dana White for his passive performance.

Following another loss four months later, this time by split decision to Alessio Sakara, Leites was dropped from the organization. From title shot to out of a job in two fights -- that was a low point.

Leites rebounded quite nicely. Shortly afterward he signed a two-fight deal with the MFC and won a unanimous decision over Dean Lister, another UFC fighter, in Edmonton in December. While he was happy with the result, it had still been over a year since he had pulled off a submission.

“Every time I’m looking for submissions, it’s not every time you can do it,” Leites said. “Nowadays, every fighter knows jiu-jitsu.

“Dean Lister is a tough ground fighter. It’s not easy fighting against him. Nobody has submitted or knocked him out. Only one mistake and he can catch you.”

In February, he defeated Rico Washington by first-round arm-triangle choke at an event in his native Brazil. Things appear back on track.

“Against Washington, I executed my game plan and fortunately I was able to get (the submission).”

Leites (16-3) knows that Taylor is a step up in competition from his last fight and he isn’t taking him lightly.

“He’s very explosive, has very good grappling and has good cardio,” Leites said. “In all his fights, he makes it exciting because he looks for a fight every time, no matter whether he wins or loses.”

Leites has a lot of experience in the matter. He’s followed the career of his opponent for quite a while, because Taylor has already faced two of his close friends and training partners, C.B. Dollaway (July 2008 at UFC: Silva vs. Irvin) and Jesse Forbes (in April 2007). Both of them are at Arizona Combat Sports, where Leites spent a large part of his training for this fight; most of his preparation was at Nova Uniao, his home camp in Brazil.

Taylor was made famous for his stint on The Ultimate Fighter Season 7, where he won all his fights to qualify for the final but was kicked off the show for his behaviour outside the house. He was seen on video kicking out the window of a rented limousine outside of a hotel in Las Vegas and the staff reported a drunken Taylor was harassing patrons.

He was later given another chance at the UFC after he convinced White he had gotten his act together. However he lost by submission to Dollaway and was subsequently released.

Taylor then went on a seven-fight win streak in smaller promotions and signed a deal with Strikeforce last year. He dropped both his fights in the organization, to Jay Hieron and Luke Rockhold in August and November, respectively.

He got back in the win column in February with a quick submission of Lethbridge, Alta.’s Jason Day at an Aggression MMA show in Edmonton. That was not only his first time fighting in the city, it was his first being in Canada altogether. He said he likes the city and the people, and he was pleasantly surprised at how they took to him.

“I thought (Day) was going to get cheered more and I was going to get booed, but I got a pretty good reception,” Taylor said.

Six weeks ago Taylor (14-5) signed with the MFC and hopes to take a run at the belt. The 27-year-old said being dropped from the TUF reality show and later cut by the UFC was a good learning experience.

“The whole experience was a blessing in disguise,” Taylor said. “I got to fight for all these different organizations and keep learning. Losses make me better and better. But this is my time.”

The California native said he had a really good training camp at Team Quest. He worked a lot on his boxing, maybe a little more than usual. “And of course, jiu-jitsu,” he added.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Taylor added. “I know he’s a tough guy, a challenging guy. I look forward to him bringing the best out of me.”

MFC Owner/President Mark Pavelich believes it could be a fight-of-the-year candidate.

“I love Jesse Taylor’s aggressive nature and he is coming here with bad intentions on his mind. And Thales Leites has a new-found desire to showcase his raw power and talent.”