In the lead-up to a Shane Carwin fight, you usually don’t hear a lot of chatter from him. He’s a blue-collar man from Colorado who lives by the saying “speak softly and carry a big stick.”
But when it comes to discussing Roy Nelson, Carwin changes that tune rather quickly.
Carwin had to deal with Nelson a lot over the last six weeks, and on Friday, we get to see how it all played out as The Ultimate Fighter Fridays: Carwin vs Nelson premieres on FX, starting at a special time of 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Before the trash talking ensued between the two coaches, Carwin had some reservations when approached about coaching the 16th edition of TUF.
“It’s a lot to do,” Carwin told Bleacher Report. “You have to change your lifestyle. But once you find out it’s against Roy Nelson, somebody that I dislike so much, I was on board. There was nobody I wanted to coach against more than that guy, and to kick his a** in not only coaching, but in the fight as well.”
When Carwin accepted the coaching role, the trash talk started. Carwin and Nelson went at each viciously in the media and on social media platforms like Twitter. Carwin didn’t appreciate that Nelson was trying to portray himself as a person who has had it rough in his life.
“(Nelson) bi***es and complains all the time,” Carwin said. “He always has an excuse for everything. He claims to be this average, normal guy and that’s who he tries to reach too, the blue-collar workers.
“Well, that’s me. That’s where I came from. I was the one working at 15 years old and working concrete in construction, working at meat packing plants, throwing boxes and things like that. He hasn’t had a job in his life. This is the only thing he has ever done. He’s the farthest thing from a blue-collar worker that he claims to be,” he said.
Carwin did enjoy coaching the guys on the show, as it brought him back to when he was going through the grind of trying to get into the UFC.
“I’ve been there,” Carwin said. “I know what these guys are going through. Just to be able to be there and try to help those guys. It was life changing for me. There’s a lot of things that happen this season that I thought would never happen, especially in that short amount of time. It shocked me by the end in what happened and just how the show went on.”
Usually when you get close to a fight or the premiere of a show like TUF, it is just a way to hype it up and the guys are respectful to each other afterward. Carwin says that this isn’t hype—it has gotten personal.
“There’s that much animosity there (between us),” Carwin said. “All of that stuff is real. The only thing I’ve ever had to hype for my fights is to just watch my style. My fights are exciting. There doesn’t need to be any hype or talk, but this real.
“I hate the guy (Nelson). I dislike him. I hate him as a person. That’s just it. I’ll be vocal about it.”
You can follow me on Twitter @fightclubchi.
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