Morning Report: Roy Nelson wants rematch with Daniel Cormier, calls first fight ‘a sparring match’

Fresh off seeing friend and training partner ‘King’ Muhammed Lawal drop a close decision to Emanuel Newton at Bellator 106, UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson believes it mirrored his own recent defeat to Daniel Cormier at UFC 166.
“I didn’…

Fresh off seeing friend and training partner ‘King’ Muhammed Lawal drop a close decision to Emanuel Newton at Bellator 106, UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson believes it mirrored his own recent defeat to Daniel Cormier at UFC 166.

“I didn’t feel like it was a fight, just a good sparring match,” says Nelson regarding his bout with Cormier. “I was back in the gym on Monday [following the fight]. I just got out-pointed.”

Cormier, according to Fight Metric, out-struck Nelson 74-17 (3-0 on takedowns) before claiming a unanimous decision, shutting out Nelson on the judges’ scorecards.

“It’s nothing against Daniel [Cormier]. Excellent game plan. Played it to a tee. I just wish I had two more rounds. Daniel won that night and he was the better guy, but I definitely would like to do a rematch. I’d fight anyone I’ve ever lost to.”

With Cormier looking to make his light heavyweight debut sometime next year and a chasm separating them in the rankings, it’s unlikely ‘Big Country’ gets his wish anytime soon.

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5 MUST-READ STORIES

Close, but no cigar. Dave Metlzer says that while the promotion put on a great main event, the card fell short of Pay-Per-View worthiness.

Saving the night. If not for the rousing main event, Dave Doyle thinks Bellator 106 very well could have been a fiasco. “Had Chandler and Alvarez put on a dud of a rematch Saturday night, we’d be comparing Bellator 106 to the night Seth Petruzelli knocked out Kimbo Slice and the evening in New Jersey in which “Bigfoot” Silva pummeled Fedor Emelianenko right out of Strikeforce.”

20 in 20 roundup. Chuck Mindenhall’s series reaches 2007, the year when the Lil’ engine that could knocked out welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. Also, make sure to check out 2008 and 2009 from this weekend.

Crusher. Tatsuya Kawajiri makes his long-awaited UFC debut against Hacran Dias at UFC Fight Night 34: Ellenberger vs. Saffiedine in Singapore.

The Ringer. Shayna Baszler looks back on TUF and predicts another win for Rousey. “Ronda’s gonna beat Miesha. I’ve competed with Miesha. I’m confident. I was one of the people who used to think if you can stop Ronda’s armbar, you can beat her. But I’ve trained with her, and she’s got a lot of cool stuff besides the armbar.

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MEDIA STEW

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Jack Slack’s Alvarez vs. Chandler breakdown.

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Bellator 106 highlights.

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Pros pick Vitor Belfort vs. Dan Henderson.

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Eddie Alvarez doesn’t care who won.

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Highlights from Lion Fights 12.

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David Loiseau looking for UFC return.

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Top bantamweight prospect Aljamain Sterling (Serra-Longo) stays undefeated.

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Brutal KO from #10 Strawweight Alida Gray.

(HT to @ErikssonLau)

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TWEETS

Make sure to check out our ‘Pros react’ from this weekend’s Bellator 106.

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New belts.

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Better luck next time.

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One to the next one.

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Oh, Forrest.

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Too bad.

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More Machida.

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Live, dammit. Live!

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“The good news is, we’re doing a stadium show…”

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Announced this weekend (Nov. 1-3 2013)

cancelled Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Alexander Gustafsson at UFC Fight Night in London

Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi UFC Fight Night in Brazil

Hacran Dias vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri at UFC Fight Night 34: Ellenberger vs. Saffiedine


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FANPOST OF THE DAY

Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via Decado.

UFC Champions to WSOF Prospects Speak Out: The Truth About Sponsorship in MMA

This particular piece is all about the realities of trying to get and keep good sponsors in MMA, and it contains some eye-opening quotes that I feel you guys will find very interesting.

You’re fighting for an MMA organization that is nationally televised. You’re on the televised portion and you’ve managed to get 3 or 4 sponsors together. How much do you think you’ll be making, total, from those sponsors? $5,000? $3,000? For many fighters, the real number is below $1,000.

More…

The truth of MMA sponsorship is that the majority of guys aren’t making anywhere near what you expect them to be. Since the economic downturn and UFC Sponsor Tax implementation, the amount fighters receive from sponsors has taken a dramatic hit.

This piece is the culmination of several month’s work interviewing many fighters to get the most accurate view possible of the sponsor market now and in the past. The topics covered include how much sponsors are really paying, why they are paying less now than in the past, how difficult it is to get cash from sponsors, what factors affect how much sponsors will pay you, and more.

Participants

Along with my MMA Sentinel Radio co-host, Steph Daniels, I interviewed over a dozen fighters to get details on the state of sponsorship in MMA. Those fighters include: A UFC Champion, UFC title contenders, plus top contenders and prospects in the UFC, Bellator and WSOF.

We feel it’s important to give an indicator as to the type of fighter we received comments from, and their relevant places in the MMA world. We also wanted to know how much guys are really making, what effect the sponsor tax had, and how common it is for sponsors to fail to pay a fighter. Some fighters agreed to go on the record, others wished to remain anonymous. Some made some comments on the record, and some off.

I made the decision to have every response be anonymous, for the sake of consistency and ensuring I didn’t give any clues to you intrepid investigators out there who might try to match anonymous comments up with named fighters.

Every factual statement in this piece is 100% true. The wording of the statements may have been edited to remove references to times, places or other things which may give clues to the identity of the fighter. Other than these measures, nothing you read here has been altered in any way.

Check out the rest of the post here.

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Found something you’d like to see in the Morning Report? Just hit me up on Twitter @SaintMMA and we’ll include it in tomorrow’s column.