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Fox Sports: "Zach Arnold's Fight Opinion site is one of the best spots on the Web for thought-provoking MMA pieces."

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Roy Nelson: The UFC Heavyweight division is probably the most feared division in MMA and “it used to be like how PRIDE was”

By Zach Arnold | June 4, 2010

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Watch Roy Nelson Speaks On Rumored Bout With Dos Santos on RawVegas.tv

I would encourage you to read the transcript just to get a feel for his comments about the UFC’s depth, the MMA media, and the Internet.

Much like Dana White, I still can’t figure out what web sites they are reading and who they are responding to.

DAVE FARRA: “Dave Farra for RawVegas.tv and The MMA Fix, standing next to ‘Big Country’ Roy Nelson. How you doing, man?”

ROY NELSON: “Pretty good, pretty good.”

DAVE FARRA: “I actually got a very important call the other day. Your manager called me and said, ‘Hey I want you to come talk to Roy because there’s been a lot of speculation about what’s going on with him, who he’s going to be fighting next, and Roy Nelson wants to clear the air and he wants to do it with you’ which kind of made me feel special.”

ROY NELSON: “Well, I appreciate that.”

DAVE FARRA: “Let’s just start from where the rumors began. Cheick Kongo, you were fighting Cheick Kongo, then he got injured and that fight went away.”

ROY NELSON: “The fight with Cheick Kongo was never going to happen.”

DAVE FARRA: “And then, of course, Frank Mir’s name came up as well and you guys are friends, yes?”

ROY NELSON: “We’re definitely acquaintances. We’ve been together in grappling, we’ve trained together, you know, we’ve done a lot. We’re you know… is that something that I would like to see? No, because it doesn’t do anything for me or it doesn’t do anything for him.”

DAVE FARRA: “So you want to fight somebody who is coming off of a win, perhaps.”

ROY NELSON: “I would like to actually come off with somebody that’s in the title hunt.”

DAVE FARRA: “Such as?”

ROY NELSON: “Pretty much that leaves, we got Cain Velasquez which we probably won’t get because we already heard that he’s going to be on the shelf. We got (Junior) dos Santos, (Shane) Carwin, and (Brock) Lesnar and they’re fighting next month, so that only leaves one other person and that would be dos Santos, so I would that fight and I saw it on ESPN that I’m supposed to fight him, so I’m all game.”

DAVE FARRA: “OK, so ESPN reported that you were going to be fighting Junior dos Santos at UFC 117 but you don’t know that you’re going to be fighting Junior dos Santos yet at UFC 117?”

ROY NELSON: “I know but I don’t know.”

DAVE FARRA: “What does that mean?”

ROY NELSON: “It’s one of those things like, I know one of us signed a contract but at least that’s what I read on the Internet, so.”

DAVE FARRA: “So you signed the contract but he’s scared of you is what you’re saying?”

ROY NELSON: “I’m not saying that, either. I just saying one of us signed the contract.”

DAVE FARRA: “Can you confirm that you, in fact, signed the contract?”

ROY NELSON: “I cannot confirm.”

DAVE FARRA: “Are you going to deny that you, in fact, signed the contract?”

ROY NELSON: “I will deny, I’ll do what … you’re confusing my words. Umm, no, I just, I think dos Santos would be a good fight. I think it’s good for, it puts us right in the title picture for either one of us because he’s already the guy that should actually be above Carwin.”

DAVE FARRA: “Why would he want to fight you if he’s already in that title picture firmly? Wouldn’t that be a big risk on his part?”

ROY NELSON: “I think for himself it’s a risk but you know it’s also one of those fights with you know like do you want to be put on the shelf and you can’t have two guys sitting on the shelf. Everybody wants to see the Velasquez vs. dos Santos but that’s not going to happen. Dana already pushed that, squashed it. Like who’s the next big heavyweight to fight out there? It must be Roy, so that’s where we’re kind of I think we’re kind of going.”

DAVE FARRA: “OK, so obviously it’s a great fight for you because you beat him and that lines you up with the winner of Velasquez and Lesnar/Carwin, whoever that may be.”

ROY NELSON: “I would assume whoever wins, if that fight does happen, whoever wins out of our fight automatically gets a title shot. That’s the way I would look at it.”

DAVE FARRA: “Do you think that the way the UFC Heavyweight picture stacks up right now there is that depth in that division that a lot of people are saying that there is or do you think it’s really just kind of the cream of the crop, there’s only a couple of guys at the top?”

ROY NELSON: “The UFC division is 10 times more stacked than where it was we’ll say 3 years ago. Right now, the UFC Heavyweight division is probably one of the most watched and it’s probably the most feared division like it used to be how PRIDE was. I mean, we have the top of the top now. Do we need a Fedor (Emelianenko) or an (Alistair) Overeem? Like, those are top guys but they’re not the guys that you know like I want to say… that will make us any deeper. I think we have a good, deep you know, I welcome you know Fedor coming over or even Overeem, you know I… Maybe actual blood testing maybe California or a pee test in Nevada or something like that and not in Missouri where it’s like, ‘we’ll go out and test you for it.’ ”

DAVE FARRA: “So you think Overeem may still possibly be on the juice?”

ROY NELSON: “No, he’s on the what, I think, it’s the horse meat or whatever. However they serve it in Holland or whatever.”

DAVE FARRA: “Horse meat?”

ROY NELSON: “I think that was his diet. That’s why he’s said he got so big.”

DAVE FARRA: “So you think that’s probably not all just working out and doing squats and pumping iron?”

ROY NELSON: “You know what? I have no idea. The only person that knows, that would be him and probably a blood test, though. That’d probably be the best way to resolve that.”

DAVE FARRA: “And final thing here. Honestly, how close do you think Junior dos Santos is to signing that deal to fight you at UFC 117?”

ROY NELSON: “You know what? Junior might be already signed. He could have already signed.”

DAVE FARRA: “Why’d you do that to me?”

ROY NELSON: “He could have already signed it.”

DAVE FARRA: “He could have, but I mean, that would mean the fight would be done because you just said you already signed it.”

ROY NELSON: “No! I said that if I signed it, I would already sign it, but I haven’t signed it. That’s why I said, it’s one of those like mixture of politics, you know, maybe I’ve signed it, maybe I didn’t, you know, one of those… as far as you know whatever I read off the Internet, one of us has signed it. I don’t know if it’s hm or if it’s me.”

DAVE FARRA: “So you believe everything you read on the Internet?”

ROY NELSON: “Everybody else does.”

DAVE FARRA: “All right, Junior dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson. He’s signed the fight, Junior, what’s wrong with you? Why haven’t you done it yet. It’s going to happen at UFC 117 if you just sign the paper.”

ROY NELSON: “Or I’ll sign it. Either one.”

DAVE FARRA: “So sly. Good to talk to you as always.”

Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 13 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

13 Responses to “Roy Nelson: The UFC Heavyweight division is probably the most feared division in MMA and “it used to be like how PRIDE was””

  1. david m says:

    Roy Nelson isn’t good enough to even say Fedor’s name, let alone say that Fedor wouldn’t improve the depth of the hw division.

    • 45 Huddle says:

      How hard are you tugging on Fedor’s nuts there? He can’t even say his name? That’s too funny….

      • David M says:

        To make an analogy you will understand, how would you feel if Coker said that your hero Dana couldn’t help him run an mma business better.

        • Michaelthebox says:

          45 didn’t argue about depth. He just pointed out that you’re holding Fedor’s nuts with a death grip to say that Roy “isn’t even good enough to say Fedor’s name”.

      • David M says:

        Michaelthebox: twas mere hyperbole, like when Dana says that Fedor hasn’t fought anyone since the 1990s.

  2. Robert Joyner says:

    “we got Cain Velasquez which we probably won’t get because we already heard that he’s going to be on the shelf.”

    injury…zuffa freeze out….waiting on title shot? hmmmmm…..

    • Michaelthebox says:

      Its pretty common knowledge they’re holding him back for a title shot. It may have even been openly acknowledged by Dana at some point, though I’m not sure.

  3. EJ says:

    I’m pretty sure that Cain is on standby if either Brock or Carwin get injured, that way he can step in since he’s already the number 1 contender and the UFC can still have a big ME fight for 116.

  4. 45 Huddle says:

    Anybody else see Fertitta’s comments about a union? How it is up to the fighters. People are making a big deal about it…. But Fertitta by law is basically obligated to say that. He can’t say he is against a union as it could be close to the line of breaking the law.

  5. Mr. Roadblock says:

    The UFC HW division is better now and has more exciting matchups to look forward to than PRIDE did in its halcyon days.

  6. Vic Mackey says:

    Dave Farra does not come off well.

  7. kutti says:

    nelson=sophomoric, plump. dont wanna see him.

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