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UFC Heavyweight Roy Nelson: ‘When you officially get sued, you’ve officially made it’
By Zach Arnold | December 25, 2010
Here’s Roy Nelson, in his own… inimitable way, explaining the lawsuit that Roy Jones Jr.’s promotional company has filed against him.
KENNY RICE: “We’ve pulled out all of our legal documents. We’re going to try to get this straightened out. Roy Nelson’s with us. He’s going to straighten this out for us. Here’s the deal — Roy was getting ready to fight Shane Carwin, UFC 125, of course Carwin’s injured so they’re trying to get all of that figured out. The contract issue with Roy and I believe I’ve got his straight now, it’s with Roy Jones Jr’s Square Ring. You did a fight for them a little over a year or so ago, they’re contending now that they have basically like a first right of refusal, a first right of negotiations which would mean with Zuffa, with UFC, in terms of putting you on a card or not putting you on a card. Is that the gist of this?”
ROY NELSON: “Um… I think they also said that we, me and the UFC, teamed up in a conspiracy theory, we you know, like, it’s… All I know is that officially, you know, when you officially get sued, you’ve officially made it.”
KENNY RICE: “You’re officially sued, right?”
ROY NELSON: “So, I think, this is like really it’s like nine months old, I mean that’s how long this technically has been, over two years. This is nine months old but I think when you get on TV people think you’re TV rich because we know you guys are very extremely rich.”
BAS RUTTEN: “Yes, of course.”
ROY NELSON: “So it’s that TV rich, it’s that stardom. I think anybody can try to milk something for what it is. But the one thing I’ve learned out of this whole thing is everybody’s going to always try to knock you down, you know what I mean?”
BAS RUTTEN: “For no reason. It’s only good for him. And he’s trying to stretch it out for as long as he can.’
ROY NELSON: “Yeah, but the thing is is you got to have that champion mindset, you know, where it doesn’t matter how many times people knock you down, it’s how fast you get back up and how fast you get back in there. So like for me, it’s just one of those things that just a little speed bump to get where I have to go.”
KENNY RICE: “We contacted Roy Jones Jr., by the way, and talked to his camp and Square Ring and at this time they have declined to give any additional comment on this because the lawsuit’s still out there, it’s still going down.”
ROY NELSON: “Yeah, it’s still one of those things that, you know, eventually it’s going to work itself out. I mean, the law, you know, I guess in the United States it’s been going on for nine months so it’s slow, you know.”
KENNY RICE: “But you were going to fight at UFC 125, so I mean something was worked out. If Carwin doesn’t get injured, you’re fighting him coming up.”
ROY NELSON: “That was the plan, you know, so I mean you know things happen, you know, there’s other things that, you know, pop up in our world of MMA.”
KENNY RICE: “But they were going to let you fight, though. I mean, the Roy Jones Jr. people said you could fight at 125.”
ROY NELSON: “I don’t think they…”
KENNY RICE: “Oh, they didn’t?”
ROY NELSON: “I don’t think it had anything to do with Roy Jones Jr. I don’t think because the thing is with the Roy Jones Jr. there was never like an injunction or anything like that so it’s not, has nothing to do with that. I think it’s just, you know, either to sideline some stuff some you know paperwork out and then just call it a day.”
BAS RUTTEN: “You know because it has to be, it’s a very bad promotion for Roy Jones if he does it. If you’re a fighter, you know, and we all love the UFC, we all love the fighters in it, you’re going to start thinking twice to go to that organization. So that would not be smart if that’s the case now.”
ROY NELSON: “You know what? It actually doesn’t matter if you’re going to 12 different organizations or not. In the world of the US, you can sue anybody.”
BAS RUTTEN: “That’s it and I can put on a light on an organization that has just started by doing this.”
KENNY RICE: “Have you talked to Roy Jones Jr. personally? Fighter to fighter and said, hey, you know how it is, you can’t be on the shelf for 8-9 months, I mean when do you fight again now?”
ROY NELSON: “I think if it really came down to it I think no one can really stop you from making a livelihood. I think there’s some legal stuff that you can maneuver for like, you know, someone trying to stop you from making an actual living.”
KENNY RICE: “Do you think you guys should sit down and talk? I mean, seriously, fighter to fighter, I got to believe he’s going to understand a little bit more this situation and cut through the attorneys and the red tape.”
ROY NELSON: “Well, we can always fight. That’s always another way.”
KENNY RICE: “Well, that’s one way to settle it.”
ROY NELSON: “We can do a thumb wrestling match or whatever. I mean, it’s one of those things.”
KENNY RICE: “Rock, paper, scissors with you and Roy Jones Jr. That would be interesting.”
ROY NELSON: “We can make it a PPV.”
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