Roy Nelson’s victory over Dave Herman at UFC 146 kept the rotund competitor from remaining irrelevant in the UFC heavyweight division.Now, he looks to take it one step further and earn a win over one of the sport’s most respected veterans.Nelson appear…
Roy Nelson‘s victory over Dave Herman at UFC 146 kept the rotund competitor from remaining irrelevant in the UFC heavyweight division.
Now, he looks to take it one step further and earn a win over one of the sport’s most respected veterans.
Nelson appeared on Sherdog Radio Network and said he wants to face the winner of an upcoming bout between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Cheick Kongo at UFC 149.
“I’ll take the winner out of Big Nog and Cheick Kongo. I’d love that fight,” Nelson said. “Because if you’re in the UFC, you’re the best in the world. You can fight that guy and be the next title contender.”
Nelson’s stock could certainly rise by earning a win over either fighter, but it isn’t likely going to improve his chances at receiving a title shot.
He has gained victories over respectable opposition like Mirko Cro Cop and Stefan Struve, but “Big Country” has yet to be credited with a notable win over some of the division’s top contenders; since 2009, Nelson is 4-3 in the Octagon.
Critics have attributed some of Nelson’s recent losses to his weight, forcing UFC president Dana White to convince him to drop to 205 pounds.
But for now, Nelson’s future appears to be safe.
However it will take more than a few wins for Nelson to prove he belongs at the top of the division.
(Inferior heavyweight contender, or marketing genius?!)
Perhaps we’re in the minority here, but we’re getting pretty God damn sick of mixed martial artists throwing around the word “retirement” like Kim Kardashian throws around the word “marriage.” Because retirement, like marriage, is a sacred institution, and nowadays it seems as if every other fighter is taking a big, steaming turd on what was once holy ground. In the past year alone, both Jamie Varner and more recently B.J. Penn have retired, only to come out of said retirement before anyone could even assess their retirement in the first place. Though the jury is still out on how long Nick Diaz and Jason Miller will be out of action, it’s looking like you can add none other than former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar to the former list, as it has been reported by co-Host of Tough Talk on wrestlingobserver.com, Mike Sawyer, that Lesnar will return to the UFC within the year. He broke the news over his Twitter:
Mike Sawyer ?@TOUGHTALKMMA Had an interesting conversation with someone VERY close to all the Brock Lesnar stuff. He is fighting THIS YEAR in UFC & not Frank Mir…
Mike Sawyer ?@TOUGHTALKMMA plans change all the time, but the name I was told isn’t Roy.
Brian ?@FrontRowBrian If it’s not Mir fighting Lesnar in UFC later this year as @TOUGHTALKMMA reports, who is it? @roynelsonmma? @stefanstruve? @ShaneCarwin II?
(Inferior heavyweight contender, or marketing genius?!)
Perhaps we’re in the minority here, but we’re getting pretty God damn sick of mixed martial artists throwing around the word “retirement” like Kim Kardashian throws around the word “marriage.” Because retirement, like marriage, is a sacred institution, and nowadays it seems as if every other fighter is taking a big, steaming turd on what was once holy ground. In the past year alone, both Jamie Varner and more recently B.J. Penn have retired, only to come out of said retirement before anyone could even assess their retirement in the first place. Though the jury is still out on how long Nick Diaz and Jason Miller will be out of action, it’s looking like you can add none other than former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar to the former list, as it has been reported by co-Host of Tough Talk on wrestlingobserver.com, Mike Sawyer, that Lesnar will return to the UFC within the year. He broke the news over his Twitter:
Mike Sawyer ?@TOUGHTALKMMA Had an interesting conversation with someone VERY close to all the Brock Lesnar stuff. He is fighting THIS YEAR in UFC & not Frank Mir…
Mike Sawyer ?@TOUGHTALKMMA plans change all the time, but the name I was told isn’t Roy.
Brian ?@FrontRowBrian If it’s not Mir fighting Lesnar in UFC later this year as @TOUGHTALKMMA reports, who is it? @roynelsonmma? @stefanstruve? @ShaneCarwin II?
Now, this rumor may not be coming from the most reliable source, but if there is any truth to this, then we gotta ask what the hell DW and company are thinking. Oh wait, they’re thinking that having Lesnar back in the UFC will significantly add to their stacks of cash which already stand higher than Joe Silva on a step ladder.
But Sergio Hernandez of CageSideSeats seems to think that we are all being made fools of, and that the UFC have become nothing than pawns in a possible WWE storyline. He writes:
In his short career, he defeated a Hall of Famer, won the heavyweight championship and became the biggest pay-per-view (PPV) draw in the history of the company.
Four months later, he was back in WWE, F5ing John Cena out of nowhere and kicking off their rivalry which culminated in a terrific match at Extreme Rules.
Following Lesnar’s loss to Cena that night, he attacked WWE COO Triple H. Snapping “The Game’s” arm, he hasn’t been seen since and his old mouthpiece Paul Heyman showed up at one point to announce his client’s resignation and subsequent lawsuit against WWE.
Of course, in the world of professional wrestling, this is all a charade.
So when Lesnar showed up at last night’s UFC 146 event and rumors began swirling the former champion was looking to get his old job back, it get me thinking [sic].
According to Dave Meltzer, Lesnar’s meeting with White did not go well. Perhaps the UFC President felt the biggest star in the sport was genuinely interested in making a comeback only to find out his appearance was all to help legitimize the storyline in which he quit WWE.
Meltzer also mentioned a “game is being played.”
It’s unclear what he means by that. Perhaps the aforementioned theory is true and Lesnar plus Vince McMahon is simply using the UFC.
Or maybe Dana White — who has had meetings with McMahon in the past — is helping an old friend with his new gig?
We gotta say, this theory makes much more sense than the actual possibility of Lesnar returning to the UFC. As Hernandez also mentioned, it’s not like the beatings Lesnar took at the hands of Cain Velasquez and the Ubereem have been long forgotten, so who would honestly expect Lesnar’s return to be anything but a marketing ploy? One thing’s for sure, if he were to return, it surely wouldn’t help add to the legitimacy of a sport that is constantly trying to gain credibility in the mainstream.
But on the outside chance Lesnar actually is returning, Sawyer seems convinced that he will either face Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, or Shane Carwin. We can go ahead and cross Struve off that list, because he is not nearly well known enough to be facing a guy like Lesnar, even though he has about 5 times the experience. Nelson has been angling for a fight with Lesnar for what seems like an eternity now, even to the point that he would be willing to go to the WWE to “whoop his ass,” so perhaps all of his trash talking could finally pay off. As for Carwin, he and Lesnar already engaged in a classic war at UFC 116, and Carwin finally has a return date tentatively set, so that could make for the most interesting storyline of the three, but what do you think, Potato Nation? Should we even be considering this lunacy as a possibility?
It’s been a year since we’ve seen former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin in the Octagon, due to a severe back injury. But now he’s announced his long-awaited return, telling UFC matchmaker Joe Silva that he’d like …
It’s been a year since we’ve seen former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin in the Octagon, due to a severe back injury. But now he’s announced his long-awaited return, telling UFC matchmaker Joe Silva that he’d like to fight sometime in the autumn.
It’s been a long road to recovery for a fighter who posted a 12-0 run, which included victories over top heavyweights Gabriel Gonzaga and former UFC champion Frank Mir. But back-to-back losses to Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos left him looking for his place in the division.
With his return imminent, Carwin says he spent his time off rounding out his skills and making himself an even better fighter, ready to take on the elite of the division once again. Here’s a look at possible fights for his return.
If you listened to the crowds wildly cheering UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson following his 51-second knockout over Dave Herman at UFC 146, you would find it easy to believe that the man known as “Big Country” is one of the most popular fighters…
If you listened to the crowds wildly cheering UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson following his 51-second knockout over Dave Herman at UFC 146, you would find it easy to believe that the man known as “Big Country” is one of the most popular fighters in the division.
Unfortunately for Nelson, sometimes it seems that the men who sign the checks, UFC president Dana White and CEO Lorenzo Fertitta, are not the biggest fans of Nelson.
Following Nelson’s win over Herman, the fighter walked to the side of the cage and directed some comments at White and Fertitta who were seated cageside.
White addressed those comments while speaking to MMAWeekly.com, saying, “That was Roy Nelson’s ‘(expletive) you’ to me and Lorenzo. Did you see him come over and yell at us after the fight? It was.”
White has long been critical of Nelson, taking exception to his physique, his fat-man shtick and lately his unruly beard and mullet. The UFC president has expressed his desire to see Nelson take his career seriously, saying that he does think Nelson has untapped talent.
That talent and an iron chin have allowed Nelson to compile a career MMA record of 17-7. Nelson’s first official UFC win came when he knocked out Brendan Schaub in the final bout of the 10th season of The Ultimate Fighter. He followed that victory with a 39-second knockout of Stefan Struve before dropping decisions to Junior dos Santos and Frank Mir.
Since then, Nelson has gone 2-1 including his win over Herman. In all, his UFC record is 4-3. That record may seem average, but Nelson feels that his record is something to be proud of considering the fact that he feels that many of his opponents have been using performance-enhancing drugs, telling Bloody Elbow:
I used to think when I’d fight and beat up people that are doing the stuff that they are not supposed to be doing, I just looked at it as a moral victory for myself. It was like, “Hey, I just beat that guy, even though he was on the stuff” or he might have beaten me because he was on the stuff, but now I realize that he’s actually just taking money from me. I think from now on we should just do random drug tests, because we just did it for this heavyweight card, and it changed the whole landscape of it.
When asked how many fighters he believes he has fought that have been using PEDs, Nelson put the number at 60-70 percent, a number that, if true, indicates a real problem in the MMA world, one that needs to be addressed in some way as soon as possible, something that White has said is in the works.
“We’re going to do our own testing, order these guys into [a lab]; we’re sorting it out now,” White told the L.A. Times. “You have to do this to save the sport. You can’t have these guys fighting on this stuff.”
Hopefully this will be sorted out quickly and fans, the media and the fighters can begin to put this talk of who’s doing what behind them.
No one should be delusional enough to believe a UFC testing program will ferret out all the cheaters, but it’s a start, and one that may make some question if the risk is worth the reward.
Ever since joining the UFC following his victorious stint on TUF 10, Roy “Big Country” Nelson has been getting publicly criticized by UFC boss Dana White. But there is no arguing with Nelson’s knockout of Dave Herman at UFC 146 in just 51 s…
Ever since joining the UFC following his victorious stint on TUF 10, Roy “Big Country” Nelson has been getting publicly criticized by UFC boss Dana White. But there is no arguing with Nelson’s knockout of Dave Herman at UFC 146 in just 51 seconds.
Nelson’s own adopted persona makes him an easy target. With his atrocious mullet, mountain man beard, and trademark big belly, he leaves White no shortage of avenues from which to attack him.
Those attacks, however, have nothing to do with a personal dislike or a lack of respect. White is on record stating how he respects Nelson’s fighting spirit, and how he only wishes “Big Country” would have dedicated himself to MMA.
Still, White constantly making public criticisms about one of his fighter’s physical appearance makes the feud seem personal.
With a 4-3 UFC record, Nelson isn’t exactly knocking on the door to a title shot, but he is a consistent presence in the heavyweight division, and most importantly he’s become a fan favorite by putting on exciting performances oozing with heart and guts.
Fans like “Big Country” not only for his heart, but because he’s a walking, talking underdog they can relate to. The average person is more likely to have a body type that resembles Nelson than, say, Alistair Overeem. Someone who looks like Nelson isn’t supposed to be a great fighter. He’s supposed to be a plumber.
Dana White wants marketable fighters, and traditionally that means in-shape, muscled guys who shine in photo shoots. Nelson just isn’t that guy, and he never will be. But that hasn’t stopped him from endearing himself to MMA fans.
He’s just gone about it in a different way. “Big Country” is not the athlete you look up to. He’s the athlete you relate to. He’s the guy you want to have beer and wings with, and in a way that’s a more special connection.
Dana White needs to realize this and let Nelson be who he is. Because whether White likes it or not, Nelson’s style just works. It’s effective with the fans and, as demonstrated at UFC 146, it’s effective in the Octagon.
Roy Nelson—beloved MMA gatekeeper or potential UFC champion?The clichéd answer for a question involving Nelson and UFC title in the same sentence is “anything can happen.”For a fighter like Nelson, this is certainly true. Despite his couch…
Roy Nelson—beloved MMA gatekeeper or potential UFC champion?
The clichéd answer for a question involving Nelson and UFC title in the same sentence is “anything can happen.”
For a fighter like Nelson, this is certainly true. Despite his couch potato appearance, “Big Country” is a world-class heavyweight with well-rounded skills. He has a chance to win every bout regardless of the opponent.
The question people should be asking is, what’s realistic?
The days are long gone when the heavyweight division mostly consisted of gargantuan gorillas lumbering around with one-dimensional fighting styles.
Just about every heavyweight on the UFC roster is well-rounded to some degree.
Nelson falls in line with some of the upper-echelon heavyweights on the bubble of the top-10 rankings, but it would be a shocker to ever see him climb over the hump into the elite category.
At 35 years of age, Nelson really hasn’t shown anything new.
Some are quick to point to his impressive first-round knockout win over Dave Herman at UFC 146 as some emphatic statement to the rest of the heavyweight division.
This could be true. What could also be true is that Nelson just caught Herman with the exact same punch he’s caught so many others with over the years.
People tend to lament the idea of any fighter being deemed a gatekeeper.
Why?
There can only be one champion in every division. UFC champions have never been as dominant as they are today. What does that make everyone else below them?
Just about every fighter plays the role of gatekeeper in some way or another.
Nelson may never win UFC gold or even contend for it, but he will always be an upper-echelon talent with an ability to knock off anyone he steps into the cage against.
Keep rubbing your belly, “Big Country.”
It’ll never go hungry with all of those huge UFC paydays and fight bonuses.
If you listened to the crowds wildly cheering UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson following his 51-second knockout over Dave Herman at