Well, that was a shock.
Something weird happened on the way to Gunnar Nelson’s seemingly inevitable climb up the UFC’s welterweight ladder. He lost.
Nelson dropped a controversial split decision Saturday to Rick Story in the main event of UFC Fight Night 53, which took place in Sweden. Nelson is known for his outstanding submission skills, but he could not get Story on the mat long enough to work his magic.
Instead, the fight predominantly stayed standing, and Story was the better man on his feet.
If you watched the bout, you more than likely felt Story deserved to win unanimously, but perhaps the influence of the Swedish crowd affected the decision. One judge somehow saw the bout in favor of Nelson.
The Icelandic fighter has acquired a huge following in Sweden, but the crowd couldn’t push him to victory Saturday. After it was over, Story gave his opponent credit but clearly was enjoying his second win in a row.
Per Dann Stupp of MMA Junkie, Story said, “Look at my face; he tapped me quite a bit. He’s definitely quick. Normally when you hit an opponent, they show some emotion. He’s got the toughest poker face in the sport.”
Nelson lost, but he didn’t sound defeated. He vowed to learn from the loss and return. He came in ranked 12th, but the loss will send him in the wrong direction.
Here’s a look at the results from the other bouts on the card.
Main card
- Rick Story def. Gunnar Nelson via split decision (48-47 Nelson, 49-46 Story, 50-44 Story)
- Max Holloway def. Akira Corassani via TKO (strikes) at 3:11 of Round 1
- Jan Blachowicz def. Ilir Latifi via TKO (strikes) at 1:58 of Round 1
- Mike Wilkinson def. Niklas Backstrom via KO (punch) at 1:19 in Round 1
Undercard
- Magnus Cedenblad def. Scott Askham via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Nico Musoke def. Alexander Yakovlev via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Dennis Siver def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Cathal Pendred def. Gasan Umalatov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Krzysztof Jotko def. Tor Troeng via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
- Mairbek Taisumov def. Marcin Bandel via TKO (strikes) at 1:01 of Round 1
- Zubaira Tukhugov def. Ernest Chavez via TKO (strikes) at 4:21 of Round 1
Biggest Winners
Rick Story
This is easily the biggest win of Story’s UFC career. Not only did he hand a highly touted contender his first professional loss, but Story also strung together consecutive wins for the first time since he beat a young Johny Hendricks and Thiago Alves back-to-back in 2010 and 2011.
Alternating wins and losses was not a good look. He was on the cusp of gatekeeper status, and that’s a dangerous label in the UFC.
It’s easy to see a guy go from there to the cutline. Story won’t have to worry about that for now. He’s assured himself of a solid opponent in his next fight, and he’s on track to make a move toward the Top 10 in the stacked 170-pound division.
Max Holloway
To put it plain, Holloway was probably given too much too soon in his MMA career. At just 22 years old, he already has the likes of Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier and Dennis Bermudez on his list of past opponents.
There’s no surprise he lost to all three of those guys. Holloway wasn’t even old enough to drink when he lost to Poirier.
He hadn’t turned 22 when lost back-to-back decisions against McGregor and Bermudez. In Holloway’s most recent bouts, he’s shown more maturity and sounder grappling skills, and he still possesses the boxing talent that made him so exciting and admired.
He stopped Akira Corrasani in the first round Saturday with punches to earn his third-straight win. It’s only a matter of time before Holloway climbs back into the Top 10 featherweights.
This time, he’ll be more prepared when the big names come calling.
Biggest Losers
Gunnar Nelson
Not only did all of the Swedish fighters on the card lose Saturday, but the country’s adopted son fell short as well.
He seemed ready to climb into the Top 10 heading in, but Story had other ideas.
Nelson had clearly been working on his striking, and he seemed anxious to show it off. However, he simply wasn’t effective. With all due respect to Story, if Nelson can’t handle the stand-up game from an unranked fighter close to journeyman status, what would he do against someone like Robbie Lawler or even Matt Brown?
On a side note, there might be talk of an EA Sports UFC downloadable content curse. Nelson was just added to the game’s roster, and he obviously won’t be attending a post-match celebration.
Takeya Mizugaki, Mike Pyle and Matt Brown all lost their first bouts after being added to the roster. Tim Kennedy was also apart of the update that included Nelson, and he lost last weekend to Yoel Romero.
Soon, fighters will be begging not to be added to the next update.
Niklas Backstrom
It’s one thing to lose. It’s another to get knocked out. It’s worse for it to happen in just 79 seconds, but when all that happens to a previously undefeated fighter in front of his hometown crowd, then that’s just a really bad day.
Niklas Backstrom was dealt that hand Saturday.
One stunning punch from Mike Wilkinson put Backstron out almost before the Swedish fans focused their eyes on the action. Backstrom will be back, but he was humbled in a major way in this bout.
Follow Brian Mazique on Twitter. I dig boxing and MMA.
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