Roy "Big Country" Nelson

[Striker Fox]

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

I think that because he fought at HW, he was successful. HW is always at or near the top for least competitive divisions, same as with the lightest divisions. It's just that most people fit in between giants and manlets, so the talent pool isn't as deep.

He was competing in a WAY more talented era though. Roy would easily be a top 10 HW in modern day if he was in his prime. Like I said, I think he would have been a lot better at any weight if he mixed in takedowns and kept his style more unpredictable. A match-up like Rampage vs a more in shape Roy Nelson would have been a great fight

 

[MPD-Psycho]

Yeah he was a pretty fun character

 

[Ares Black]

He was a BJJ black belt.

Yeah and he also had one of the best chins in MMA history and one of the biggest right hands too.

If he were a completely different person he could certainly have cut to 205, and probably farther. But I'm glad he was a HW his whole career. He's one of my all time favourite fighters TBH.

 

[Gamer2k4]

Nelson is the only fighter I know of that regularly hits his opponents so hard they end up facing the opposite way afterward. Here are the other two gifs of that:

 

[Bowel-forged Stool]

Roy Nelson proved Kung Fu can be effective in MMA.

The way he wok’d to the cage made for a happy family

 

[Prologue]

Nelson is the only fighter I know of that regularly hits his opponents so hard they end up facing the opposite way afterward. Here are the other two gifs of that:

Everyone always talks shit about Roy's gut, but I swear that was the source of his power. Dude was a human catapult. The whole "lose weight and be a contender at 205, or even 185" argument I don't think works. I don't think he hits that hard without the weight, even if its excess.

 

[Lord Pyjamas]

Weird fighter - both an over-achiever and an under-achiever.

OA coz look at him and how little he took the sport seriously while competing with and sometimes beating the best in the division.

UA coz if he took it seriously and was in shape, he could've been a proper contender.

Most of us would do it like him if we had the talent and chin to go with it.
He earned more $ then he ever would taking it seriously.
So he played it pretty well if you ask me! Or did you just want to live him as a fighter?

 

[JakePaulMMA]

Yeah and he also had one of the best chins in MMA history and one of the biggest right hands too.

If he were a completely different person he could certainly have cut to 205, and probably farther. But I'm glad he was a HW his whole career. He's one of my all time favourite fighters TBH.

Long story short: Roy Nelson is who everyone's dad's  think they are.

 

[VAfan]

the best part about him was how much that pot belly of his clearly pissed dana off. you could tell it embarrassed the shit out of him having one of the best HWs on the roster looking like that.

 

[Croaker]

A very underappreciated guy in modern day. His goal was to be Jackson from the movie Bloodsport and for a long time he succeeded. He probably could have been much more successful in MMA if he actually stuck to a gameplan and utilized the rest of his game instead of just winging right hands but he was like one of those "chubby comedian" types whose physical ailments became his trademark. This made him popular... but also shortened his career a lot because he became way too easy to figure out.

A disciplined, in shape Roy Nelson at 205 would have been incredibly dangerous. He actually had a very good ground game which basically went unutilized for 99% of his career after joining the UFC. That combined with power, an iron chin, and a low centre of gravity would have been a deadly combo. He likely needed a change of camps to unlock his potential but still... he was a memorable fighter and definitely a Just Bleed warrior.

Also, an underrated aspect of his career is how many times he was screwed by either judges/referees. The stand-up in his Arlovski fight has got to be the worst you will EVER see in your life and it completely altered the fight. The Monson decision is one of the worst robberies you'll see as well which prevented Roy from having a long win streak and potentially getting to the UFC without having to go through TUF (which was already ridiculous considering he was an IFL champion).

all of this is just forgetting heavyweights just get paid more so why would he drop the weight?

 

[jk7707]

Watching him flatline Mitrione after all of the talk of how great of an athlete he was, was my favorite Roy moment in the UFC.

 

[FreddieRoachsVoice]

all of this is just forgetting heavyweights just get paid more so why would he drop the weight?

You get paid more if you stay on the roster which likely would have happened if Roy actually took his training seriously. He was and could have been more than just a walking gut with a big right hand

 

[Croaker]

You get paid more if you stay on the roster which likely would have happened if Roy actually took his training seriously. He was and could have been more than just a walking gut with a big right hand

I doubt his tenure would have lasted much longer, the dude was past 40 when he had his last fight in the UFC

 

[JakePaulMMA]

He was and could have been more than just a walking gut with a big right hand

Of course he had more than a right hand and a belly...did you forget his beard and hair?

 

[JonnyBonesPharmacist]

Roy was to early, cause he'd probably be champ nowdays

 

[Pierce 34]

Holy fuck what's he made of

 

[blaseblase]

I think its easy to delineate his A / F, its not as though its random. He has a losing overall UFC record because he generally lost to ranked fighters. He could murk guys that didn't belong.

Almost as a rule he would get beaten up by top 10 opponents, but beat guys that were un-ranked or near retirement.

He was a good gatekeeper to the top 10 for a while. When Stipe outpointed him with ease I knew Stipe would be a contender.