The MMA community took a collective sigh of relief when Shane Carwin and his team announced that his recent knee injury wouldn’t prevent him from facing Roy Nelson. The two men are coaches on The Ultimate Fighter and have weeks to build up to what is sure to be a grudge match.
Carwin was able to talk to Tapout Radio about a number of topics and Bloody Elbow has the key quotes. He began the discussion about settling any doubts fans may have about the knee injury.
It happened during wrestling. A guy was in on a single and I went to throw my hips back and I heard ‘pop! pop! pop!’, so we stopped and he had to help me up. It’s down in size now. It was about the size of a watermelon, but now it’s the size of a cantaloupe. The good news is the doctor doesn’t think I need to have surgery, and we’re still going to push to stay in that fight on December 15th, and I think we’ll be good to go.
It’s no secret that Carwin isn’t the biggest fan, or a fan at all of his future opponent “Big Country.” The show was built around the differences in personality between the two men and Carwin isn’t holding back on his disdain of Nelson. The former interim-heavyweight champion even went as far as to say Nelson is a backstabber.
I don’t respect that guy. I don’t like him. I just think he’s disrespectful. He’ll talk all kinds of sh*t behind your back and stuff, but then when he’s at my face, all he wanted to do was talk about the UFC contracts to me. I’m like, ‘Who are you, man? Get out of my face.’ I’m just not up for that type of bullsh*t. I hate people that when you turn around, they’re stabbing you in the back, and when you’re back at their face, they’re trying to be your best friend. That doesn’t work for me. There’s nobody else I want to fight more. I can’t wait to fight this guy. I’m excited that he’ll be the first guy I get to punch when I get back to action.
The difference between the two is apparent in their coaching styles as well, something Carwin was quick to pick up on.
He’s telling everybody, ‘just do enough to win’, and I was telling my guys, ‘if you go out there and perform for these guys, and put on exciting fights, win or lose, they’re probably gonna bring you back.’ There’s a bunch of guys that are like that. My view is to go out and give it your all for the sport that you love, and his was to just do enough to win, so you can get that six figure contract.
I’m sure there will be plenty of back and forth banter between these two men in the media while TUF is on the air, but the most important part of the interview is Carwin‘s knee will be healthy come Dec. 15.
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