Filed under: UFC
UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson was four days removed from knee surgery when the UFC approached him about fighting on the Jan. 1 card. His doctor advised against it, but “Big Country” agreed anyway, which is what it makes it all the more painful to have the bout pulled out from under him now that his opponent, Shane Carwin, has withdrawn with a back injury, Nelson told MMA Fighting.
“I was bummed, but the only reason I was bummed was just because of how much I was pushed to fight Shane. Because of my knee surgery, my doctor said I shouldn’t fight until like February or March, and I kind of got pushed into it.
“That’s the reason why it hurts, more than anything, is just the fact that I was pushed into something that I really didn’t want to do but was going to do just because you don’t want to hear the ‘Are you an f-ing fighter?’ speech. Everybody knows, you never fight 100%, but it was an opportunity and I was more than willing to jump on the opportunity.”