Former IFL heavyweight champion and “TUF 10″ winner Roy “Big Country” Nelson (15-5) has come out to voice his disappointment at losing the chance to fight Shane Carwin at the upcoming UFC 125 event on Jan. 1st.
Carwin withdrew do to a back injury and will require surgery to repair the damage. Nelson, meanwhile has been removed from the UFC 125 entirely.
“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…I’m always down to fight a legend of the sport. Or give me any of the other 28 [heavyweights] who are on the UFC roster. …I have no idea who I’ll fight next. I might be fighting The Undertaker in the Royal Rumble, you never know.”
Nelson suffered his first defeat in the UFC dropping a unanimous decision to Junior dos Santos for the #1 UFC heavyweight contender position at UFC 117. “Big Country” defeated Brendan Schaub at the “TUF 10″ Finale to win that seasons reality seriers, and would go on to TKO Stefan Struve at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi in March of this year as well.
HT: MMAFighting.com