Former UFC heavyweight contender and The Ultimate Fighter 10 winner, Roy Nelson managed to rack up his first mixed martial arts victory since 2017 last night in the main event of a Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA card – promoted by former UFC welterweight, Jorge Masvidal.
Nelson, a fan-favorite knockout puncher, made his first mixed martial arts walk since 2020 in his return to action last night, most recently dropping his fifth consecutive loss in the form of a unanimous decision defeat against Valentin Moldavsky.
Roy Nelson adds to his knockout rate with a stoppage of Dillon Cleckler
However, managing to snap his recent losing skid stretching back to 2018, Roy Nelson turned back the clock with a stunning win over fellow headliner, Dillon Cleckler inside the opening round in Sunrise, Florida.
Dropping the highly-touted Cleckler in the opening frame, Nelson swarmed and finished the bout with follow up strikes.
The victory came as Las Vegas native, Nelson’s first since he defeated Javy Ayala in a unanimous decision victory in his Bellator MMA debut.
A fan-favorite knockout striker over the course of his storied mixed martial arts career, Nelson, 46, holds triumphs over the likes of Brendan Schaub, Stefan Struve, Mirko Cro Cop, Matt Mitirone, Chieck Kongo, Minotauro Nogueira, and ‘Bigfoot’ Silva.
In a preliminary bout on TUF 10 – which Nelson went on to win outright, the Nevada native stopped the late sport icon, Kimbo Slice with a second round TKO win to boot.