Born: Feb. 23, 1989 (Age: 34) in Montreal
Division: Lightweight
Height: 5’9”
Reach: 70.5”
Record: 18-5 (7-0 PFL)
Association: H2O MMA/Tristar Gym
Stage of Career: Prime
Summary: Aubin-Mercier has maximized his potential in the
Professional Fighters League, becoming an effective striker to
go along with his considerable abilities as a grappler. He has been
outstruck and outgrappled before, but his being proficient in both
areas now presents a difficult challenge for opponents, as it is
not easy to neutralize him on two fronts. In the striking
department, his main threat is a truly great leg kick. With it
being fast, sudden and hard, it has hurt and compromised many
opponents. He is lacking in terms of a jab and his cross, but he
has now developed a solid overhand right and a nice right hook—a
very tight, technically solid shot that has genuine power, as shown
in his knockout of
Steven Ray.
In the grappling department, Aubin-Mercier has good takedowns from
the clinch and excellent top control. His own takedown defense is
solid but not impenetrable, and while he is excellent at getting
back to his feet, he has been outgrappled ahead of decision losses
in the past. Making him even tougher to beat now, Aubin-Mercier has
improved his cardio in the PFL and can now fight competently for
all three rounds. He has become an intelligent mixed martial
artist, showing uncommon improvement in his early 30s while making
consistently smart decisions during matches.
STRIKING
• Stance: Southpaw.
• Hand Speed: Average.
• Jab: Mediocre at best. Because he reaches and often telegraphs
the punch, it is fairly easy to avoid or counter.
• Cross: While fast and sudden, it is not quite straight enough and
is sorely lacking in power.
• Right Hook: Very tight and mostly solid from a technical
standpoint, but it lacks speed and suddenness. It carries some
power, as it was responsible for finishing Ray in the 2022 PFL
lightweight final.
• Overhand Right: Solid mechanically, with a nice arc and
accuracy.
• Uppercuts: Almost never throws them.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Tends to throw one shot at a
time.
• Favorite Combination(s): The one-two, though the one is little to
worry about and the 2, while fast and sudden, is lacking in
power.
• Leg Kicks: Fast, sudden and hard. He has badly hurt multiple
opponents with this strike.
• Body Kicks: Strangely enough, he almost never throws them despite
how effective they are from the southpaw stance.
• Head Kicks: They lack flexibility and take too long to reach
their target.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.
Aubin-Mercier’s main striking weapons are his outstanding leg
kicks. They have everything one could wish for in a strike,
catching opponents off-guard by being fast and sudden but also
possessing plenty of power. He has hurt and compromised many foes
with it since joining the PFL, and it is the strike that may have
improved the most since he was in the Ultimate Fighting
Championship. His boxing is solid, though it should be noted that
his jab is of little concern and his left cross lacks power.
However, his overhand right and right hooks are effective tools,
especially the latter—a nice, technical shot that carries
legitimate power. He does tend to only throw a punch at a time and
is heavily reliant on that leg kick.
CLINCH
• Physical Strength: Tremendously powerful in the clinch, where he
can gain separation against virtually anyone to either return to
open space, throw knees or get takedowns.
• Technique: Excellent, with exceptional balance, thanks to his
judo base.
• Knees: Strong and damaging, as turns his hips into them
nicely.
• Elbows: Does not throw them.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Almost impossible to keep in the
clinch and score against.
Befitting his judo base, Aubin-Mercier is extraordinarily
difficult to handle in the clinch. He has fantastic physical
strength and excellent technique, making it a chore to get much
done against him in terms of grappling or striking. Aubin-Mercier
can also work his takedowns well, along with delivering a powerful
knee to the body.
GRAPPLING
• Wrestling from a Shot: He tends to reach. Slow and fairly easy to
defend, even for the likes of
Darrell
Horcher.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Excellent balance, strength and
technique. Took Horcher down at will from close range, including
his use of a few high-crotch singles against the cage and a nice
turning inside trip.
• Takedown Defense: Sound but possible to exploit. He was taken
down multiple times by
Gilbert
Burns, and even more recently, Ray exploited him with a mat
return. Aubin-Mercier sometimes struggles to recover from a strike
or from being out position.
• Ability to Return to Feet: Outstanding, especially his technical
wall walks.
• Submissions: He excels at taking the back, locking in a body
triangle and attacking with rear-naked choke attempts, though such
maneuvers have been hard to pull off at his current level of
competition. • Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: Knows
exactly how to defend submissions and has never been tapped, but he
has made some grappling mistakes and been exploited in his fights
against Burns,
Diego
Ferreira and
Arman
Tsarukyan—all stout grapplers.
• Top Control: Applies tremendous pressure, features good wrist
control and keeps opponents grounded.
• Ground-and-Pound: Consists of left hands to the head, many of
them arm punches lacking power, and the occasional telegraphed,
sweeping right. However, he occasionally strings them together
well, and they have solid accuracy.
Aubin-Mercier features excellent offensive wrestling from the
clinch, where he uses his judo base to get multiple takedowns, even
though his wrestling from the shot is fairly easy to defend. Once
on top, he has suffocating top control and excels at controlling
the wrists. He can take the back and attack with rear-naked choke
attempts, though his ground-and-pound is not all that damaging or
threatening. Defensively, it is possible to get the better of
Aubin-Mercier, though it takes an outstanding grappler to do so. He
can potentially be taken down, but it has proven exceedingly
difficult to keep him on the canvas thanks to his ability to wall
walk back to his feet. He defends fairly well on his back but makes
certain mistakes that the best grapplers can exploit.
INTANGIBLES
• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: Powerful and fairly
dynamic.
• Cardio: Much improved since his UFC days and can now be seen as
up to par. Fights at a measured pace but can go three solid rounds,
only slowing down minimally in each stanza.
• Chin: Satisfactory, though he has been hurt and dropped before by
Burns and Horcher, among others.
• Recuperative Powers: Recovers amazingly fast.
• Intelligence: He has shown noticeable improvement in his early
30s, making correct decisions during the course of fights and
knowing when to strike or grapple.