Apparently Roy “Big Country” Nelson’s (15-5) physiotherapist has done wonders for the fighters knee as the UFC officially announced a bout between him and former #1 contender Shane Carwin (12-1) during today’s new “UFC Ultimate Insider” episode. The bout will co-headline the New Year’s Day UFC 125 event in Las Vegas.
Nelson had knee surgery last summer following his loss to Junior dos Santos at UFC 117.
MMAjunkie.com was the first to catch on to the announcement, also noting that, as expected, UFC lightweight champ Frankie Edgar (13-1) and Gray Maynard (10-0) would be headlining the UFC 125 event with their title match.
Carwin suffered his first career defeat at the hands of UFC heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar at last July’s UFC 116 event. Carwin looked to have the fight won, pouring it on in the first round but was unable to finish the fight. With nothing left in the tank for the second, Lesnar made short work of Carwin applying an arm triangle choke to finish the fight at 2:19.
The former # 1 contender, has earned wins over Frank Mir (UFC 111), Gabriel Gonzaga (UFC 96), Neil Wain (UFC 89), and Christian Welisch (UFC 84) under the UFC banner.
“Big Country” Nelson, the first and last IFL heavyweight champion, lost a unanimous decision to Dos Santos in their #1 contender bout in August. The fighter’s notoriety rose during his tenure on the season of “TUF 10″ where he eventually won the Spike TV reality series by knocking out fellow teammate Brendan Schaub at the finals in December of last year. Nelson then went on to earn a TKO win, and a “Knockout of the Night” honor, against Stefan Struve at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi before going on to face Dos Santos.
UFC 125 will take place on Jan. 1st at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.