The matchup between Roy Nelson and Dave Herman at UFC 146 will be more exciting than any other fight of the night. It probably won’t last that long, but you can bet that it will be the most intense, action-packed bout on any card.
Nelson is an absolute bear of a human being, or a bowling ball, whichever way you look at it. Question his physical condition if you want, but you can’t question the raw power and heart that Nelson provides every fight.
Herman’s physical appearance is a stark contrast to Nelson’s, as he is five inches taller than the six-foot Nelson and 12 pounds lighter. He possesses the same type of knockout power that Nelson does and is every bit as dangerous as his counterpart.
One of the main reasons this matchup is so exciting is because Nelson loves to get close up and lay the hammer on his opponents. However, it’s going to be difficult for him to do that against Herman, as he is at a four-inch reach disadvantage as well as the aforementioned height advantage.
The only way Nelson is going to be able to get close enough is if he gets Herman up against the cage and tries to use his size to keep him there. Nelson typically relies on that size to bully his opponents, but a five-inch height differential is a big deal while standing up and will put Nelson at a disadvantage.
Another aspect of this fight that makes it so intriguing is that both guys could be fighting to remain in the UFC.
Dana White recently blasted Herman for his appearance and the song he came in to prior to his loss to Stefan Struve (per MixedMartialArts.com):
“I like Dave Herman,” said White, adding, “the stuff that he pulled this week? I can’t stand that stuff.
“Listen, if you want to get noticed … get noticed for your fighting skills. Not for coming in like a gorilla or wearing pink scarfs. And coming in to “Macho Man?” As I was sitting there, I’m thinking ‘did I seriously let him come into this song?'”
The UFC President also wasn’t too happy with Nelson because of his poor conditioning and made it known, per Yahoo’s Steve Cofield:
“Listen, he’s a tough guy with a ton of heart,” White said. “He goes in there and gives it his everything. My thing is I’ve always said to him, ‘I’d love to see you take this thing serious and really rip off some weight and try to fight. When you’ve got a chin like that and a heart like that, I mean, you can’t deny the guy’s got a great chin, great heart, and he can knock people out, too.
It’s never a good thing when your boss says that you aren’t taking your job seriously.
White can say what he wants about the two, but I’m sure he knows that we’re going to see some serious brawling on Saturday night. The power punches are going to be thunderous and the crowd is going to love it. This fight isn’t going to the judges and it might not even get past the opening round due to a combined factor of poor conditioning and knockout power.
Nelson and Herman are going to be wailing on each other from the get go, and they’ll put on a better show than Cain Velasquez will against Antonio Silva or Junior dos Santos will against Frank Mir.
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