One day Roy Nelson was enjoying his vacation, and the next day he was training for a fight at UFC 161 but as Nelson says, “When the UFC calls, you step up.” And step up he did, taking a short-notice fight against Stipe Miocic on the June 15 card.
The call to Nelson went out when an injury forced the UFC to rearrange the upcoming event. Miocic had originally been booked to face Soa Palelei on the undercard, but when Nelson answered the call, Palelei was removed from the card and the fight was moved to the pay-per-view portion of the event.
Some have questioned why Nelson, a Top-10 UFC heavyweight, would agree to face Miocic, who is ranked outside the top 10. Nelson sees things a little differently: “Stipe’s one of the top guys in the UFC. He wouldn’t be in the UFC if he wasn’t one of the top guys.”
Nelson expanded on that topic when asked if he thought he could one day be UFC champion.
“Anybody in the heavyweight division could be champion,” he said. “Anybody in the UFC is at the top of the food chain, if we weren’t we wouldn’t be in the UFC. Anybody on the UFC roster could be heavyweight champion at any time, that’s why no heavyweight can hold it more than two fights at a time unless they’re fighting the same guys over and over.”
As for his chances, Nelson is confident he can wear UFC gold. “On any given day I know I can beat anybody up and knock anybody out.”
Knockouts are what Nelson has become known for. His six UFC victories have all come via knockout, earning him three “Knockout of the Night” bonuses. When asked if he is looking for the knockout when he steps into the Octagon, Nelson responded, “Usually I’m looking to wrestle and grapple, but the knockouts just happen.”
The odds of a knockout just happening in this bout are high. In addition to his six UFC knockouts, Nelson has six other KO wins in his career, while Miocic has seven knockouts in nine career victories.
While we don’t know for sure how the fight will end, we do know that Nelson looks at his work inside the Octagon as just another day at the office. “It’s a normal day at work,” Nelson said. “People write, whatever they do, my job and Stipe’s job, we just go out there and fight. That’s our job.”
Nelson’s next workday will come on June 15 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
All quotes were obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report MMA.
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