This weekend, Roy Nelson will waddle on down to the cage for eighth time in his UFC career. Blaring in the background, if everything holds to form, will be Weird Al Yankovic’s classic parody, “I’m Fat.”Nelson, you see, has embraced his girth, made…
This weekend, Roy Nelson will waddle on down to the cage for eighth time in his UFC career. Blaring in the background, if everything holds to form, will be Weird Al Yankovic’s classic parody, “I’m Fat.”
Nelson, you see, has embraced his girth, made it his gimmick.
“Do I have fat cells on my body? Everybody has fat cells,” Nelson told ESPN last year. “Do I have more than most other athletes? Probably.”
One man who isn’t laughing is Nelson’s boss, UFC president Dana White, who has pressured the fighter to lose the gut and drop the act. Last year. after a disappointing performance against Frank Mir, White let it all hang out.
“The fat thing was funny for awhile, it’s not funny anymore,” White told Ariel Helwani. “It’s not funny when you’re the co-main event in a big fight like that and the fight looks the way that it did tonight.”
Of course, Nelson isn’t the most corpulent man in MMA history. Far from it. Here are five other large-and-in-charge men who made the Octagon shake with their mighty presence.
The 16th season of The Ultimate Fighter will come to a close on Saturday night in Las Vegas, and when the dust clears Mike Ricci or Colton Smith will leave the Octagon with a UFC contract.Before the two welterweights face off there will 10 other fights…
The 16th season of The Ultimate Fighter will come to a close on Saturday night in Las Vegas, and when the dust clears Mike Ricci or Colton Smith will leave the Octagon with a UFC contract.
Before the two welterweights face off there will 10 other fights that need to take place, including some must-see scraps—and don’t forget the main event between Matt Mitrione and Roy Nelson that will follow the Ricci versus Smith scrap.
Opening the FX portion of the card will be a featherweight scrap between Dustin Poirier and Jonathan Brookins. Poirier is a fighter looking to get back on track after a loss to Chan Sung Jung in a “Fight of the Year” candidate, while Brookins is looking to show that his win on season 12 of TUFwas no fluke.
Also on the FX card will be the always-entertaining Melvin Guillard facing off against the resurgent Jamie Varner. And entertaining, you want entertaining? How about Pat Barry versus Shane del Rosario in a heavyweight bout that screams slobberknocker.
Following Barry versus Del Rosario, UFC president Dana White will crown the TUFwinner and the event will then wrap up with a heavyweight bout between Roy Nelson and Matt Mitrione. All in all, not a bad night of free fights in FX.
The fighters will weigh in on Friday at 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT, and we’ll have live coverage of the weigh-in for you right here, so be sure to check back on Friday afternoon.
For months, Matt Mitrione has been looking for a bigger opportunity.A scheduled bout with Phil De Fries has been on the books for some time, but that didn’t stop the former All-American defensive lineman from attempting to get a fight with a higher pro…
For months, Matt Mitrione has been looking for a bigger opportunity.
A scheduled bout with Phil De Fries has been on the books for some time, but that didn’t stop the former All-American defensive lineman from attempting to get a fight with a higher profile.
It was a course of action which lead Mitrione on a jagged path up-and-under the proverbial bus with UFC President Dana White.
However, this weekend, the former NFL player turned mixed-martial-artist will get his wish when he faces heavyweight slugger Roy Nelson.
Both men were cast mates on Season 10 of The Ultimate Fighter, with Nelson eventually winning the tournament by defeating Brendan Schaub.
Coming onto the show Mitrione had minimal experience, but has flourished in his time since winning five-out-of-six Octagon appearances.
When the two men square off this Saturday night in Las Vegas, Mitrione believes his performance will display how far he’s come.
“I feel like this fight will show the progression I have made as a mixed martial artist,” Mitrione told Bleacher Report.
“I think it has been pretty well publicized now that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing when I was on The Ultimate Fighter. I had only been training for six months before I got there.
“I feel like I’m a damn good fighter right now. I train at the Blackzilians camp with guys like Rashad Evans, Alistair Overeem, Thiago Silva, and VitorBelfort and those guys have all noticed the improvements I’ve made. Those are top tier fighters and that tells me I’m doing something right.
“I feel like it will be a great display of the things I’ve learned, but the biggest thing, I’ve gained all kinds of knew knowledge since I came down to South Florida in March.
“Now it’s up to me to use that knowledge at the right time, the right way, and show I’ve become a striker, not just a brawler who has tricks. That’s up to me and I think that is the cool part. I need to come out and effectively utilize what I’ve been learning.”
The bout with Nelson will be Mitrione‘s first since October of 2011. Following a unanimous decision loss to veteran Cheick Kongo.
The 34-year was slated to face Rob Broughton on two occasions, but the matchup with the British heavyweight was ultimately scrapped and a bout with De Fries was set for UFC 155.
With the fight with De Fries on the horizon, Mitrione lobbied for a fight with former light heavyweight champion Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
Dana White ultimately shot down the idea, and became upset with Mitrione when he rejected a short notice bout in Strikeforce with Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier.
Following Shane Carwin’s withdraw from the TUF 16 Finale due to injury, Mitrione stepped up to the fill the void.
While it will be the first action he’s seen in over a year, Mitrione feels Nelson is the caliber of opponent he deserves to face and the decision to take the fight with “Big Country” had nothing to do with the previous criticism from White.
“So many people have told me they think I took this fight with Roy to get back in good with Dana and that has absolutely nothing to do with why I wanted this fight,” said Mitrione.
“I respect Dana but that isn’t going to stop me from doing what I feel is right. If he wants to chastise me in the media for decisions I’ve made, then that is just the way things are. Sure it sucks, but I’m a man with options. I’m an intelligent and articulate person with a college degree and I can do whatever I want in the world.
“Fighting isn’t the only thing I have. If I’m ever forced out because they don’t like the way I handle myself then I’ll figure something else out. I always have. But as far as being a fighter, they aren’t going to find a fighter with more heart, drive, and love for the fight than me.
“I should be fighting in these type of fights. I should be fighting someone in Roy’s position. To be honest, I see Roy and Kongo on almost the same level. Roy is probably at a little higher level but it is where I belong. It’s where I should be.
“When I fought Kongo, I didn’t get beat by Kongo. I lost a decision that was questionable. I definitely didn’t get man-handled or had the type of performance where people came out saying I definitely wasn’t as good as Kongo. I don’t think that happened at all. Whatever position that is; I’ll let the crowd decide that. But I feel I belong in this conversation and believe I’ll be able to prove that on Saturday.”
After the announcement of Mitrione taking Carwin’s place, Nelson voiced his feelings that Mitrione made things personal by asking for the fight. Additional tension was added when Mitrione declined VADA testing which Nelson has been strongly advocating for months due to the short-notice nature of the bout.
While the former Purdue standout holds no ill-will towards Nelson, he believes there is no way to avoid making things personal when two men are locked in a cage to scrap it out.
“Dude it is personal any way you cut it,” Mitrione said.
“Fighting is a very personal thing. I’m going to try to put my shin through his body. I’m going to try to put my fist on the backside of his face. He’s going to try to do the exact same thing to me. Of course that is personal, but as soon as it is over, I’ll go buy Roy a beer with my win money.
“I harbor no animosity towards him but this is fight week. Roy is a friend of mine but if I knock him down, I’m not going to stop trying to punch a hole in his face. Roy will do the exact same thing to me.”
Nelson has earned his reputation as one of the heavyweight division’s toughest fighters.
The former IFL champion has the power to end fights abruptly with a thundering overhand and top-level ground skills to finish his opposition on the mat.
While these are steep challenges Mitrione will certainly face, the motivations for the fight go far beyond the bright lights of the Octagon.
“I could really a f*** less if people who get paid to have opinions think I have a chance or not,” Mitrione said.
“I have spent so much time away from my family. My three-year old calls the phone ‘daddy’ and that f**** me up. This fight is an opportunity for me to justify being away and once I beat Roy it puts me in a different conversation.
“As far as I’m concerned, Roy Nelson is the only person standing in my way of financial independence and freedom for the most part. It will allow me to write my own ticket for the next stretch and that’s how I see it. Whether that is right or wrong, I could care less.
“In my own opinion, I don’t think too many people are giving me much of a chance to win this.They don’t think I can knock him out. They don’t think I can finish him on the ground. They don’t think I have good enough wrestling to stay off the ground with him.
“They know I have a good chin and won’t get knocked out, but most people believe I’ll get taken down and TKO’d there. That is what people seem to expect and I think I’m a whole lot better than what people give me credit for.
“There is so much I’ve never shown and I’ve only gotten better since coming down to South Florida. This fight isn’t so much about shutting up the critics or the haters, but for me it is really about justifying having to spend so much time away from my family.”
Roy Nelson spent an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter preparing mentally to face Shane Carwin. It was a fight that he wanted and one that appeared to be very personal. In fact, Nelson pushed openly for VADA-testing for their fight at …
Roy Nelson spent an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter preparing mentally to face Shane Carwin. It was a fight that he wanted and one that appeared to be very personal. In fact, Nelson pushed openly for VADA-testing for their fight at The Ultimate Fighter finale in Las Vegas.
But then Shane Carwin suffered a knee injury in training. What was first reported as a minor injury soon became serious enough to force Carwin from the card. It would have been Carwin‘s first fight in over a year.
On Monday’s conference call, Nelson spoke with media about his upcoming fight Saturday with Matt Mitrione. One of the most interesting aspects of this fight is Nelson’s relative silence with out-of-competition drug testing.
“It wasn’t that big of a deal. I asked Matt and it’s either a yes-or-no question and that’s it. It’s not worth kicking a dead horse,” Nelson explained. “All I can do is ask once and it’s either yes or no. You need to take it or you don’t. So far I’m 0-2.”
With VADA-style testing such a major talking point leading into the Carwin fight, it’s definitely an issue that Nelson appears to want to push. That his peers in MMA don’t seem to feel the same way could be met with some raised eyebrows.
But Nelson won’t let himself to lose focus in such an important fighter. He’s had to make several adjustments in his training camp as Carwin and Mitrione are not the same fighters. While Carwin is known for his knockout power, Mitrione presents issues as he’s a southpaw.
“I think the biggest thing we switched up was Shane and Matt are two different fighters,” Nelson said. “One fights southpaw, one fights orthodox so that’s a big change. And then the other thing from my understanding Matt chose this fight so I guess it becomes a little big more personal.”
I’m not sure if Nelson truly believes it’s personal between him and Mitrione, but he sure believes that fans will see how he really was as a coach when the DVD is released.
It’s very common for footage to be left on the cutting-room floor and Nelson wasn’t exactly portrayed in the best light during the season. Even while Shane Carwin remained silent during fights and watched his team from the sidelines, Nelson coached his team to victory throughout the seasons.
And as for his staff? There was many people that were never shown on television, including UFC legend Royce Gracie. But Nelson isn’t worried. He expects vindication once fans get to see what really happened while the cameras were rolling.
“You know the one thing about the UFC is that they’re a great marketing machine. I think that they’re just waiting to sell the DVD. For the DVD it’s gonna be Roy Nelson has five Ultimate Fighter winners, three UFC champions, five world champions, and actually having Royce Gracie on there and get behind the scenes footage and buy the DVD now.”
Roy Nelson faces Matt Mitrione in the main event of the Ultimate Fighter finale this Saturday on FX.
(“I’m sorry, you were saying something about The Ultimate Fighter picking guys with silly gimmicks over those with actual talent nowadays?”)
Last weekend, the UFC dropped off one of the most stacked cards of the year in our lap for free. This weekend, not so much. Make no mistake, we will be treated to two, count ’em two free fight cards this weekend, but both events will have to do a lot in the exciting finishes department to compensate for the lack of drawing power they posses, especially when compared to the bird-flipping, toothpick-chewing, f-bomb-dropping goodness that was UFC on FOX 5.
Kicking off the weekend’s action will be UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson, which kicks off live on FX via tape delay starting at 9 p.m. EST. Although it’s been dubbed a UFC on FX event, we might as well refer to it by what it truly is, the TUF: Smashes Finale, because in no other universe could you justify having two middle of the pack lightweights (or whatever Pearson is these days) coming off losses headline an FX card. The man in clown attire pictured above apparently made it all the way to the finals, which should either tell you that the UFC has completely given up on finding actual talent on TUF these days or that you should stop being so damn judgmental. Either way, I haven’t seen an episode of the show, which takes us to Saturday’s event…
Keeping with the tradition established in the last ten or so seasons of the American version of TUF, on Saturday we will be treated to a TUF Finale event that pits one of the show’s coaches against a complete outsider due to the other coach suffering an injury. There’s also the welterweight finals matchup between Colton Smith and Mike Ricci — two guys we’re sure you’re familiar with — so join us after the jump to get the inside scoop on the fights you might actually be interested in seeing this weekend.
(“I’m sorry, you were saying something about The Ultimate Fighter picking guys with silly gimmicks over those with actual talent nowadays?”)
Last weekend, the UFC dropped off one of the most stacked cards of the year in our lap for free. This weekend, not so much. Make no mistake, we will be treated to two, count ‘em two free fight cards this weekend, but both events will have to do a lot in the exciting finishes department to compensate for the lack of drawing power they posses, especially when compared to the bird-flipping, toothpick-chewing, f-bomb-dropping goodness that was UFC on FOX 5.
Kicking off the weekend’s action will be UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson, which kicks off live on FX via tape delay starting at 9 p.m. EST. Although it’s been dubbed a UFC on FX event, we might as well refer to it by what it truly is, the TUF: Smashes Finale, because in no other universe could you justify having two middle of the pack lightweights (or whatever Pearson is these days) coming off losses headline an FX card. The man in clown attire pictured above apparently made it all the way to the finals, which should either tell you that the UFC has completely given up on finding actual talent on TUF these days or that you should stop being so damn judgmental. Either way, I haven’t seen an episode of the show, which takes us to Saturday’s event…
Keeping with the tradition established in the last ten or so seasons of the American version of TUF, on Saturday we will be treated to a TUF Finale event that pits one of the show’s coaches against a complete outsider due to the other coach suffering an injury. There’s also the welterweight finals matchup between Colton Smith and Mike Ricci — two guys we’re sure you’re familiar with — so join us after the jump to get the inside scoop on the fights you might actually be interested in seeing this weekend.
We shall begin with UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson.
From the Prelims: There isn’t really much going on in terms of matchups you need to see here. Chad Mendes is taking on a completely unknown who’s making his UFC debut and coming off a loss in Yoatzin Meza, so expect an early stoppage there. Also on the card is likely a loser-leaves-town match between Igor Pokrajac and Joey Beltran. Beltran likes to stand and trade with superior strikers and Pokrajac likes to grapple with superior grapplers and complain about it afterward, so that should make for an entertaining fight. I’m leaning towards Pokrajac though, because Beltran just cannot catch a f*cking break in the octagon.
Really, the only fight that is both relevant and potentially entertaining is the matchup of streaking welterweights in Mike Pierce vs. Seth Baczynski. “The Polish Pistola” has rattled off six straight victories — including four straight in the UFC over the likes of Matt Brown and Lance Benoist — and most recently knocked out Simeon Thoresen at UFC 152. Pierce similarly used his fists to bring Aaron Simpson’s welterweight run to a crashing halt at UFC on FX 5. A win for either man puts them in a decent position among the current welterweight division, so look for Pierce to utilize his grappling background and bully Baczynski against the cage en route to a decision victory. Although in a perfect world, these two would duke it out until one of them goes down. We can only hope.
The Main Card: Right off the bat, you’ve got a fantastic matchup with the potential for a highlight reel submission or knockout finish in Hector Lombard vs. Rousimar Palhares. Both middleweights are coming off disappointing losses that left fans questioning their hearts for entirely different reasons, so one would imagine that they both bring an incredibly aggressive gameplan into this one. After being brought over from Bellator — where he was the most dominant champion the promotion had ever known — Lombard crashed and burned in his UFC debut, suffering a plodding, completely uninspired decision loss to Tim Boetsch. Although Lombard tried to blame the performance on a nagging injury afterward, he will need to impress in a big way on Friday if he doesn’t want to go down as one of the biggest busts in UFC history. The same can be said (albeit to a far lesser degree) about Palhares, who has shown a tendency to wilt if he isn’t able to maim his opponent in the opening moments in a fight against Nate Marquardt and most recently Alan Belcher. Expect both men to come out looking for a finish, but for Lombard to secure one by late first round TKO after shucking off a couple of Palhares’ takedowns and punishing him on the feet.
I’m not even going to try and act like I know the skill set possessed by any of the TUF Smashes finalists, welterweight or lightweight. I know Colin “Freakshow” Fletcher finished his semifinal opponent by some sort of reverse kimura and has acquired most of his professional wins by submission, whereas Park hasn’t finished an opponent on the show, so let’s go with Freakshow for the win there. Moving on.
I can comment, however, on the main event pitting George Sotiropoulos against Ross Pearson. For starters, both men are the same coaches that began on the show, so that’s gotta be some kind of record. Secondly, both men are coming off losses: Pearson was most recently blistered by Cub Swanson in a featherweight contest at UFC on FX: Maynard vs. Guida and G-Sots has not won since November of 2010, having dropped his past two contests to Dennis “I’m not Daniel Craig” Siver and Raphael dos Anjos. Although Pearson has been submitted once in the UFC, he’s a tough-as-nails competitor who is pretty hard to put away, whereas the Australian’s chin has seemed to betray him in his last couple fights. This matchup is going to come down to whether or not Sotiropoulos can get the fight to the ground before Pearson finds said chin. My guess is he won’t be able to, so look for Pearson to either pick his shots en route to a clear decision victory or shut G-Sots lights off late in the second or third.
Click the “next page” tab to get the low down on Saturday’s ‘TUF 16 Finale’
Injury and opportunity are two things that have been plentiful in the UFC over the past year or so.Those two things are what will bring Roy Nelson and Matt Mitrione into the Octagon on Saturday, December 15 when they headline the season 16 finale of Th…
Injury and opportunity are two things that have been plentiful in the UFC over the past year or so.
Those two things are what will bring Roy Nelson and Matt Mitrione into the Octagon on Saturday, December 15 when they headline the season 16 finale of The Ultimate Fighter.
Nelson has been an ever-present figure during the 16th season of TUF, coaching opposite Shane Carwin, the man he was originally booked to fight on Saturday night. An injury to Carwin opened up a spot in the main event and Mitrione, who had been scheduled to face Philip De Fries at UFC 155, threw his name in the hat.
The UFC must have liked the matchup between Nelson and Mitrione and they took him up on his offer.
Mitrione and Nelson are no strangers to TUF. Both fighters competed on the 10th season of the show, a season that Nelson won. Mitrione, on the other hand, was dispatched in the quarterfinal round, falling to James McSweeney via guillotine choke.
Despite the fact that they could have met in the semifinal round of the show, Mitrioneisn’t looking at this fight as some sort of chance at redemption or as a way to show that he would have defeated Nelson had they fought back in 2009. He knows that was a different time and place for both fighters, “Roy won The Ultimate Fighter, good job for Roy,” Mitirione said. “He’s had three-and-a-half years to develop since then and so have I.”
While that much is true, both fighters have had the same amount of time to develop since filming season 10 of TUF in 2009, but Nelson has been the more active of the two.
Nelson has two fights under his belt since UFC 137, the last time Mitrione fought in the UFC. As far as how the 14 months off will treat him, Mitrione was unsure and seemingly unconcerned, “I’ll tell you after the fight,” he answered when asked if he thought the time off would affect him.
Mitrione, a fighter who has all six of his professional bouts as a UFC fighter then continued, “It’s like riding a bike. I never had a fight before the UFC and I went in there and kind of went off the cuff and made it happen, so I’m sure it’ll be like the same way.”
Riding a bike, punching guys in the face, you do it once, you never forget, or so Matt Mitrione would like to believe.
We’ll find out if Mitrione is right on Saturday night.
For months, Matt 
