Former IFL heavyweight champ, and season ten winner of “The Ultimate Fighter”, Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson (15-5) is set to face his toughest opponent in former UFC champ Frank Mir this Saturday. Both men will square off in the co-main event of the Las Vegas show, with both men eying a possible title shot with a victory over the other.
With a reshuffling of the UFC’s heavyweight division after former champ Brock Lesnar pulled out of his No. 1 contender bout with Junior dos Santos, it’s opened up new possibilities for the top fighters. Added to that, some new possibilities after Zuffa’s purchase of Strikeforce which could bring in fighters like Alistair Overeem, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva, and others to the roster.
Speaking to FightHype.com, Nelson offered his thoughts on the UFC heavyweight division, as well as the possibility of taking on fighters from Strikeforce in the future.
“I think right now, with Brock pulling out, it pretty much gives me the second spot right behind Shane Carwin/Dos Santos fight. I mean, I can pretty much get this win against Frank and get a title shot, you never know. Or it can be a situation where I may have to win one more fight. You never know with the heavyweight division with people just falling off, getting hurt and injured…
“I’d like to fight any of the heavyweights from Strikeforce. My motto is to fight the best in the world. I like to fight everybody at least once just to find out where I rank in the world instead of doing the Pacquiao/Mayweather type of thing where it’s like ‘Let me hand pick all of my guys first and then when the money is right, we will fight.’ I just want to fight…
“No, I’m just happy to be fighting Frank Mir. I’m glad that I can fight. This will be my first time ever fighting a UFC heavyweight champion, so I just feel really blessed to have the chance to actually do that. People can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ROYNELSONMMA“
Nelson is 2-1 in the UFC, losing his last fight against Junior dos Santos at UFC 117 in a No. 1 contender bout. ‘Big Country’ has earned wins over Stefan Struve and Brendan Schaub while in the Octagon.