Saturday night, Nelson will try to slip back into the win column when he takes on Dave Herman in a main card bout at UFC 146.

After a loss to Fabricio Werdum in his last bout, Nelson knows he needs to win to stay relevant in the UFC. That, however, isn’t his only mission.

“In our sport, it’s definitely entertainment first. If we weren’t selling ratings, we wouldn’t be on TV,” said Nelson during the recent UFC 146 pre-fight press conference. “As long as fans are happy, it doesn’t really matter (if I win or lose).”

While Nelson may feel that way, it is obvious that wins and loses do determine if you remain in the UFC. The former Ultimate Fighter winner has also come under heavy scrutiny for his weight, which he seems to be lowering with each passing fight.

The 35-year-old is just 1-3 in his last four fights since claiming two straight knockout victories over Stefan Struve and Brendan Schaub. Nelson is 16-7 in his MMA career.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Nelson has racked up sixteen wins in his career including those over Stefan Struve, Brendan Schaub, and Mirko Filipovic while earning a reputation for toughness along the way, only being finished once and offering current UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos his toughest fight to date inside the Octagon.

This Saturday night Nelson will take on Dave Herman at UFC 146, approaching the 21-3 talent with the same attention he gives every opponent. While his strategy to beat Herman may not involve the word “squa-doosh”, it will involve another key aspect of a certain animated film featuring an ursine ass-kicker with a midsection similar to Nelson’s – kung fu!

“Kung fu is the root for, I’d say, 95% of all martial arts,” said Nelson in a preview for his upcoming bout with Herman. “I practice every day.”

Nelson has been training in kung fu since his teens, applying the techniques he learns at the Lohan School of Shaolin in his MMA career.

“Basically you’re just working on body positioning and body movement where you’re actually feeling their energy, and then try to manipulate that to your advantage,” explained Nelson, referring to a drill known as “sticky hands”.

“Working on the wooden dummy, you can work on striking. And you can also work on different grappling like grabbing the leg or pushing the hips away,” he continued, turning to another drill before referencing an exercise meant to sharpen one’s mental state rather than physical prowess.

“Meditation can help make your more mentally strong, especially during a fight. It slows everything down so you can kind of control the chaos.”

Check out the full preview below with other segments featuring Herman utilizing a unique trampoline/ball-game to up his conditioning as well as a look at the bout between Cain Velasquez-Antonio Silva:

(Nelson-Herman stuff starts at about the 4:00 mark)

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/DREAMWORKS

The constant shuffling of the all-heavyweight main card started with Alistair Overeem being removed from the main event with Junior dos Santos. Frank Mir was then tabbed to replace Overeem and fight for the UFC heavyweight title leaving Cain Velasquez without an opponent. Antonio Silva quickly stepped in for Mir, but in full-on domino fashion that left a hole opposite Nelson.

Finally, earlier today, UFC President Dana White sent out a message via Twitter confirming Gonzaga (13-6) will be the one to replace Silva and meet the Ultimate Fighter winner Nelson (16-7).

Gonzaga returned to the UFC after just over a year away, defeating Edinaldo Oliveira earlier this year. “Napao” scored a first round submission victory over the training partner of Dos Santos. Comparably, Nelson is in a 1-3 slump over his past four fights, including losses against Fabricio Werdum and Mir, but has entertained throughout and is a tough draw for any adversary.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Nelson (16-7) recently announced plans to show he could drop down to light heavyweight if need be through a campaign on Facebook, but those plans will likely be put on hold so “Big Country” can focus on the match up with Silva (16-3).

“Bigfoot” will be making his debut in the UFC after signing a contract with them late last year. He previously competed in Strikeforce where he came up short against Daniel Cormier in the semifinal round of the promotion’s ongoing Grand Prix.

“Big Country” is also coming off a defeat with Fabricio Werdum, another former Strikeforce heavyweight, outpointing him earlier this year. Nelson is just 1-3 in his last four fights with the defeats coming against Werdum, Frank Mir, and divisional champ Junior dos Santos.

UFC 146 will feature a main event title-fight between Dos Santos and Alistair Overeem. Other bouts include Dan Hardy-Duane Ludwig and Jason Miller-CB Dollaway.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC/STRIKEFORCE

According to the 35-year old fighter, a casual discussion with a friend about the positives of Twitter in comparison to Facebook quickly turned into a bet with Nelson’s stakes involving a concerted effort to drop down to 205 pounds if he hits a certain mark in the next two weeks on Facebook.

“I said if it so easy and great I should be able add 100K fans in two weeks because I have that on Twitter,” wrote Nelson on his Facebook Fan Page.

Nelson has already received approximately 50,000 “Likes” on Facebook since originally posting the stakes.

Standing only 6’0, Nelson has racked up a 16-7 record with notable wins over Mirko Filipovic, Stefan Struve, and Brendan Schaub. At the urging of UFC President Dana White “Big Country” has already shed some of his excess baggage over the past year and clocked in for his February fight against Fabricio Werdum at 246 pounds.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

His latest edition includes moments with several fighters from the earlier event including Roy Nelson and Nick Diaz. Nelson, who lost a hard-fought decision to Fabricio Werdum, discusses the outcome with Diaz, saying, “I thought I won two rounds.” Sympathetic to his cause, Diaz also complains about the way his loss to Carlos Condit was scored, mentioning that the numerous leg kicks Condit threw did zero damage.

Check out the entire video in the player below:

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Nelson and Werdum both recently opened up about tonight’s fight where it was clear each was eyeing UFC gold in 2012.

“I’m happy to be back in the UFC. I’m ready to prove my value and to show all the work I have been doing the last couple months. I think I deserved to return after a few fights in Strikeforce. For sure Roy Nelson is dangerous and a very tough fight. It is important for me to make (an impression) in my first fight back in the Octagon,” explained Werdum before making his true intentions known.

“I want the UFC title. I want a rematch with Junior dos Santos after he beats Alistair Overeem.”

An out-of-shape and perhaps overconfident Werdum was knocked out by Dos Santos in the Brazilian champ’s 2008 debut. Dos Santos is expected to face Overeem this summer though no specific date/location has been set.

As far as Nelson, who also lost to “Cigano” but in far less devastating fashion, he also believes a win over someone with Werdum’s credentials will likely put him within one more victory of an opportunity to win the belt.

“Beating Werdum will change the landscape of the division for me,” said Nelson. “From a ranking perspective, I think this win would take me to #3 or #4. I am here to win the world title, that’s my goal. Even when I lost to Junior, I didn’t slip down (the rankings) too much and I got a lot of fans for that fight. I’m the guy in the division who is having fun fights and I’m hoping to have another (tonight).”

Preliminary pairings for UFC 143 fire up at 7:00 PM EST on Facebook/FX with PPV action beginning at 10:00 PM EST.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Werdum won three of his last four as a member of Strikeforce, including a stunning submission victory over Fedor Emelianenko. Werdum (14-5-1) competed in the UFC before, winning two fights before falling to current UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos.

Nelson, a winner of The Ultimate Fighter, got himself back on track after losses to dos Santos and Frank Mir by defeating Mirko Filipovic via third round TKO earlier this year.

News of the bout was first reported MMAWeekly.

UFC 143 will be headlined by an interim UFC welterweight championship match between Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit.

PHOTO CREDIT – STRIKEFORCE/UFC

“In this fight, I’m coming off two losses,” Nelson began in an interview with the UFC’s website while making it clear thoughts of a run at the championship would be premature. “The first fight I lost I was fighting for a shot at the world title and the second fight I was fighting against a guy who has already had the title twice. For me, losing to those guys and now coming out here, it’s basically that I need to get back into the win column. I don’t care if it is the ugliest fight in the world, I just need to get the W. Once you get the W in the win column then you can start making your way back to the title. But first you need to get that W because you can’t climb up the ladder while you’re losing.”

Such statements might cause some fans to believe the 15-6 Nelson, who has lost four of his last six fights and has a pedestrian 2-2 mark inside the Octagon, will earn his victory over “Cro Cop” by putting the crowd to sleep rather than the Croatian. However, according to “Big Country”, it simply means he plans to be cautious rather than rush into any situations.

“I think Mirko is going to stay on the outside and pick his shots with his left hand and look for his kicks,” Nelson explained of Filipovic’s likely strategy. “That’s what ‘Cro Cop’ is really good at. He sucks you into a lullaby and you put your guard down and then BAM that’s where the kick or punch is. For me, I have to be patient and look for my shots or look for the takedowns. I have to punch him in the face, but I have to be patient. Mirko is a patient man and he waits for that one mistake and he capitalizes on it.”

Further dismissing the notion the accomplished BJJer will opt to plod his way to a decision win, Nelson added, “It’s not a pure classic ‘grappler vs. striker’ (match-up) because this grappler is willing to bang with you,” a point supported by the fact he actually has more TKOs than submissions in his career – eight compared to five – and a pair of highlight reel knockouts in the UFC over Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve.

Nelson vs. Filipovic can be caught as part of the PPV portion of UFC 137 this Saturday night starting at 9:00 PM EST. Other featured fights include Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione and headlining action from decorated welterweights B.J. Penn and Nick Diaz.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

For his upcoming fight, “Big Country” enlisted the help of his last opponent and close friend, Frank Mir, to prepare him. Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champ, defeated “CroCop” back in 2010, so he knows a thing or two about fighting the Croatian. Nelson and Filipovic will meet at UFC 137 on October 29.

“This one actually just fell in place. He was a southie, (like) ‘CroCop’, and me being a good jiu-jitsu guy, like (Antonio Rodrigo) Nogueira, so it was just a perfect fit,” said Nelson, in a recent interview with NBCSports. “There’s nothing strange about it. I think everybody in MMA, paths always cross, especially if you’ve been in this sport as long as we both have.”

Nelson feels like his weight is not an issue, saying, “Everybody always talks about my weight, but that’s throughout my whole entire life. It’s nothing new. I’m sure everybody is going to talk about my weight next week, and then after my fight, and them my weight after that. It’s just because people are mean.”

It would be safe to assume “Big Country” hasn’t lost his sense of humor either, another thing White wasn’t too pleased with after Nelson’s loss to Mir. Still, don’t expect him to change any time soon.

“To me, I look in the mirror every day, my wife things I’m beautiful, so I’m going to say probably not (look different),” Nelson said. “I hope I just perform better. Looks are in the eye of the beholder.”

Nelson has lost his previous two fights, to Mir and Junior dos Santos, dropping his record to 15-6. “CroCop” is also on a two-fight losing skid, having fallen to Mir and Brendan Schaub. He is 27-9-2 overall.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

Mir, meanwhile, will face Nogueira in December at UFC 140 in Toronto.

News of the potential match-up and attached event were first reported by BetUS.

Mir (14-5) is coming off a late knockout of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic after landing a flush knee against the striking legend last September at UFC 119. He is 5-2 since 2007 with wins over Brock Lesnar, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, and Cheick Kongo in the bunch as well as defeats to Lesnar and Shane Carwin.

Comparably, his rotund rival has gone 1-1 since walking away with the title of Ultimate Fighter Season 10 champ as a result of his first-round flooring of Brendan Schaub in December 2009. The 15-5 Nelson followed the win up with a thirty-nine second knockout of Stefan Struve but was outpointed by top title-contender Junior Dos Santos in his follow-up performance this past August. He had originally been linked to a bout with Carwin at UFC 125 but the match-up fell apart due to Carwin being injured.

News of the decision came via Carwin’s website where he elaborated on the situation, as well as why he felt it was in his best interest to get healthy before re-entering the ring.

“As many of you know I have been having some back pain. I had an MRI yesterday and I have some damage that may really require surgery. If the doctors do not have to perform surgery then I will be out 8-12 weeks. If they do have to perform surgery I do not know how long I will be out of action.

I was really looking forward to fighting again and obviously this is a very disappointing turn of events. My manager said “You can’t fight the best fighters in the world with just heart, it is time to stop limping to the top of the mountain and get healthy so you can climb it on your terms.” I have been up all night thinking about this decision and what I may be missing by making it.

In the end my family and manager are right. I owe myself, I owe my fans the best show I can give them. I need to get healthy. I am going to be speaking with the surgeon this week about the surgery. My thoughts are if the surgery fixes it why add 8-12 weeks of physical therapy, epidurals and traction if surgery may still be needed.

The good news is the doctors said I can work on my cardio (they must have seen my last fight lol) with this injury.”

Carwin started off his career with twelve straight first-round finishes and nearly defeated then-UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 116 last July before falling victim to exhaustion and a subsequent second-round submission.

As stated earlier, the opening created by Carwin’s departure from the January 1st, 2011 event leaves Nelson without a foe to face at UFC 125 though it seems likely a replacement will be named in the coming weeks. “Big Country” is coming off a decision-loss to top heavyweight contender Junior dos Santos in August at UFC 117 after putting together back-to-back TKO wins over Brendan Schaub and Stefan Struve.

Lightweight champ Frank Edgar will defend his strap against the only individual to beat him, Gray Maynard, in the evening’s main event. Edgar lost a unanimous decision to Maynard in April 2008 before going on to win six straight bouts including two consecutive wins over former title-holder BJ Penn. Comparably, Maynard has won five fights in a row over a list of opponents featuring Nate Diaz, Roger Huerta, and most recently Ken Florian.

Also scheduled to see action on January 1st, 2011 in Las Vegas, Shane Carwin and Roy Nelson will settle their personal differences in the cage and help sort out the heavyweight contendership picture in the process. “Big Country” recently poked fun at Carwin’s alleged involvement in a steroid distribution ring with Carwin responding by taking verbal jabs at Nelson’s physique.

In addition to Edgar vs. Maynard II and Nelson vs. Carwin, the other “UFC 125 – Resolution” match-ups confirmed by the company are as follows:

Clay Guida vs. Takanori Gomi
Nate Diaz vs. Dong Hyun Kim
Thiago Silva vs. Brandon Vera
Chris Leben vs. Brian Stann

Roy and Brendan threw down for the crown during “The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale” that took place from The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las vegas.

Nelson scored a takedown early on but to the surprise of many Schaub managed to get back to his feet in no time where the Colorado native began to pull away with sharp jabs and crisp striking, just before “Big Country” leveled the playing field and Schaub all at once with a massive right hand that left Schaub in a heap and Roy with the title of TUF 10 Champion.

Nelson bested fellow heavyweights Kimbo Slice, Justin Wren, and James McSweeney, along with Schaub to be crowned the tournament champion.

But isn’t that the whole point. Hasn’t Lyoto Machida been praised in the past by Dana for the exact same thing? Of course Machida didn’t just embarrass one of the biggest cash cows in the business either.

Either way, credit should be given where credit is do. Nelson was in a couple of bad situations during the fight and used his experience in the sport to take the fight where he needed to, making his comments to FiveOuncesOfPain.com just before the airing of last evening’s bout make a lot more sense.

I’ve always made it a habit to use my opponents weaknesses against them, but in a format like this, you have to be a little more cautious abut what you do. Instead of throwing the whole kitchen sink, you may have to say, “Ehhhh, here’s just a little water”. Because the thing is that there’s been times that I’ve left it all out there and wound up breaking my hands, and that’s one thing on your mind; you don’t want to break your hands. You just play the safe mode, to just get the W.

My biggest thing with this fight was to take no damage, end the fight as fast as possible, and win. That was my gameplan going into the house regarding any of the bouts I may have ended up in. It didn’t matter if I punched the guy, or took him down. Whatever you had to do to get the W. It didn’t matter if it was the ugliest win on the show. As long as you got that win, that’s all that mattered. At the same time, you want to leave the bout with no injuries, and you just have to get it done. It’s not like a real fight. It’s not like you’re fighting for a payday. You just have to get it done, and then move on to the next fight.

Upon closer inspection of Wednesday night’s widely viewed episode of The Ultimate Fighter, one would have to try hard not to notice Roy discussing the exact same position he finished the fight with with other house members.

A master technician in the sport, Nelson revealed his extremely intelligent and calculated side when he discussed how counting the punches out loud would force the referee to stop the fight. When Roy’s team members did this in the bout, Herb Dean had no choice but to call a halt to the contest.

I’d relate this to Babe Ruth calling his shot in the fifth inning of Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. The only difference in Nelson’s case was that he called his shot the night before, and “The Bambino” wasn’t fighting a grizzly looking 230 pound power puncher by the name of Kimbo Slice.

I have already had to delete a couple of new users due to over the top fighter bashing in the direction of “Big Country”? I mean over the top, like Sylvester Stallone “Over the Top”. Some people are acting like Roy held them down in a crucifix position and battered their faces until Herb Dean was forced to shout out, “That’s it!”.

And why? It can’t just be because Nelson is a self described fat guy. Or even because he openly admitted to being really hungry after the fight. Perhaps it’s because he didn’t choose to “stand and bang” with Kimbo.

Seriously? Did anyone that follows the sport of mixed martial arts closely think for one second that Nelson was going to make a slugfest out of it for the fans at home? This isn’t about the fans at home for the guys in that house. It’s about what’s best for them and their families. It’s abut getting that win and being able to go on to that next fight. That’s the bottom line.

How many fighters that lost their first round bouts in The Ultimate Fighter do you remember off the top of your head?

Exactly.

The moral of the story is that the whole point of being at the house is to win and earn the six-figure contract with the UFC. There’s no guarantees for the guy in second place, and there are certainly no guarantees for a guy like Roy Nelson, who’s already had as rough a time as anyone getting himself into the Octagon.

On the other side of that coin, if it wasn’t already staring you right in the face, the fact that there is an obvious double standard when it comes to Kimbo is impossible to ignore at this point, being that he was pretty much completely dominated in his first fight on the house, yet recently spilled the beans in regards to a bout in December he was currently preparing for.

And if you think for one second that the UFC President truly believes that Kimbo will have some type of miraculous turn around in his skill level from his time spent on the show, then you are being trolled by Dana White at the highest level.

It’s all about how you spin it baby! Take notes from the master, Making Money In The Sport 101.

Kimbo makes sense for business, and at it’s deepest level, he makes sense for the MMA as a whole considering the attention captured by his mystical beard can do nothing but expose this great sport to more and more people.

In less than a years time Kimbo will be on is way out. A rich man, but on his way out never the less. History will look back on Kimbo as modern MMA’s answer to Tank Abbott. Great for ratings, but a terrible representation of the sport as a whole.

Of course it makes sense to put Kimbo in there with a guy like Roy Nelson. Slice loses to the former IFL heavyweight champion and you can always pull the “He was outmatched, but he has a lot of room to grow” card. Quite frankly, that fight ends the exact same way with 90% of the other guys in that house.

Kimbo made it quite clear that he hasn’t taken anything seriously in regards to his training in the sport up until this point. Now all of a sudden he just has this new fire under his butt to become a walking, breathing sponge to everything MMA? It’s not happening.

The fact that Slice hasn’t bothered to even attempt to evolve in the sport that has earned him an enormous amount of money tells me all I need to know about Kimbo’s character. He’ll never have the dedication and determination it will take for him to beat anyone better than James “Colossus” Thompson.

Instead of worrying about how to improve his skills and escape armbars in the future, Kimbo’s too busy pulling out his strap in the gym and waving it around like a cowboy at the OK Saloon.

Outside of his non-existent ground game, Kimbo is quite obviously in the wrong weight class. While not fat by any stretch of the imagination, I still feel like a cut down to 205 pounds would be possible for Slice, who currently walks around near the 230 pound mark.

If he doesn’t cut the weight he’ll stand very little chance against the new breed of big men currently invading the UFC heavyweight ranks.

Just think of the possibilities awaiting Kimbo at light-heavyweight.

Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander in December anyone?

As Nelson sat outside with a few of the other fighters on the night before his big fight he discussed the crucifix position. Roy seemed to be focusing on the position because it was obvious that it was the one position where he would take the least amount of damage, even going as far as explaining that the punches you hit your opponent don’t have to be the hardest shots in the world. The ruling goes, if you’re not able to intelligently defend yourself, it’s a wrap.

Following an extended feeling out process in the early moments of the opening round, Nelson shot in on Kimbo, and caught a couple of hard punches in the process. On the heavy handed slugger like a leech against the cage, Roy wound up scoring the takedown with 1:30 remaining in round. From there it was a fluid succession of: mount, side control, and eventually, you guessed it, the crucifix position. Quite possibly the safest position in all of mixed martial arts. For a solid 15-20 seconds Nelson tapped away at the face of Kimbo with a series of punches, and while they weren’t the hardest shots, referee Herb Dean was just a second or two from stopping the bout as the first round came to an end.

Kimbo starts round two swinging for the fences, catching Nelson a with a couple of solid bombs before being tied up by the much larger and more experienced veteran of the cage, and slammed to the Octagon canvas. It was just a replay of the first round once they hit the ground. Roy goes right into side control, and it’s not long before he’s right back in the crucifix position, delivering unanswered damage to the grill of Kimbo Slice once again. Herb Dean continuously warns Kimbo to improve his position, but it’s pointless. The fight is stopped, winner, Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

Staying true to his plus-sized form and light-hearted nature, Nelson immediately joked, “Can I get a Double Whopper with cheese?” following the bout. A fat guy’s version of the traditional “I’m going to Disneyland” celebration.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, or have had the unfortunate luck of being stranded on a deserted island without cable television, the most highly anticipated episode in the history off The Ultimate Fighter will be airing tonight at its usual place and time on Spike TV.

There’s going to be a gentleman competing on the show by the name of Roy “Big Country” Nelson. He’s a self described “fat guy”. A fat guy with a track record for being one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the sport. Now, this fellow that goes by the alias “Big Country” is set to face off with a well muscled former street fighter with a massive Grizzly Adams beard that is most commonly known as Kimbo Slice on this evening’s broadcast.

FiveOuncesOfPain.com recently had the opportunity to catch up with Nelson on the eve of what will undoubtedly be the most important and widely viewed battle in the history of his career, and quite possibly the sport as a whole. A fight that fought under different circumstances could very well have been the biggest payday either fighter had ever seen.

“When I was in the IFL and he was with EliteXC, I really wanted to fight him because it would have been a big payday,” explained Nelson. “He made about $500,000 in his last fight, so if we would have fought I probably could have made $150,000 – $200,000. So it would have been a great payday, as opposed to now, where we’re basically fighting for free.”

There’s no reason to dwell over the money you could have made, and no time for it in a house filled with predators with intentions of making you the prey. Roy showed up to fight, and as far as he was concerned, the sooner he got his feet wet the better.

“While you’re in that house you get so built up with frustration because of the lack of any type of release,” said the 33 year old Las Vegas resident. “You go into that house knowing that you’re going to fight so I think it’s better just to pop your cherry as soon as possible so that you can relax. I go into that house knowing that I may have three fights in five weeks, so I want to spread those fights out evenly over that time period because you don’t want to start having fights that are just back to back.”

Of course there have been many fighters over the last year or two that have extremely vocal in their criticism of Kimbo and his meteoric rise to fame after becoming famous for beating up hooligans on the Internets, but what may came as a surprise to some, Nelson shared none of that resentment.

However, if Roy WAS the type of guy that gets frustrated about certain fighters not putting their time into the sport, there would be a different target for his animosity. A guy that “Big Country” would personally love to pull the horseshoe out of his a** and beat him over the head with it, as he would explain, “If that was the case I should really be mad at Brock Lesnar.

“If we’re talking about paying dues; that’s the guy that has never paid a due in his life. Just based on the amount of fights he had before getting his title shot. But it’s not about that. It’s all about putting butts in the seats. Everybody doesn’t know that, but that’s really what it is. It’s about making new fans and keeping the fans happy. The one thing that Brock and Kimbo have is a lot of fans. Brock brought the professional wrestling fans, and Kimbo brought the Internet fans.”

Anyone that was paying close attention to the first episode of TUF 10 would have seen a few brief clips of Nelson and Kimbo in a sparring session during the tryout phase for Team Rampage. If you paid even closer attention to the segment one would further notice that, although just a sparring session, Slice appeared to be getting the better of the much more experienced veteran of the fight game.

So was their time spent training together accurately portrayed on the show? According to Nelson, you can chalk another one up to camera trickery in that one.

“I was actually dominating the sparring session beforehand because every time I moved away I was hitting him,” revealed Nelson. “So it was just a little bit of that…. movie magic. Kimbo wasn’t going 100%, and you can land a jab on Kimbo all day when he’s not going 100%. That’s when everyone was like, “Oh, I wanna fight him! I wanna fight him!”, because they all sparred him. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Can’t you see he’s sandbagging?’

“When I was sparring with Kimbo I thought he was sandbagging for sure, and then come to find out…. that’s what he was doing. He was just sandbagging.”

Being that this will be viewed on such a wide scale, one could assume that both guys will be coming out trying to murderize one another, but you have to remember that this is basically a tournament format. An extended sixteen man heavyweight kumite where preservation of your health and ability to continue on to your next fight is almost as important as the victory itself.

“I’ve always made it a habit to use my opponents weaknesses against them, but in a format like this, you have to be a little more cautious abut what you do,” explained the former IFL heavyweight champion. “Instead of throwing the whole kitchen sink you may have to say, “Ehhhh, here’s just a little water”. Because the thing is that there’s been times that I’ve left it all out there and wound up breaking my hands, and that’s one thing on your mind; you don’t want to break your hands. You just play the safe mode, to just get the W.”

“My biggest thing with this fight was to take no damage, end the fight as fast as possible, and win. That was my gameplan going into the house regarding any of the bouts I may have ended up in. It didn’t matter if I punched the guy, or took him down. Whatever you had to do to get the W. It didn’t matter if it was the ugliest win on the show. As long as you got that win, that’s all that mattered. At the same time, you want to leave the bout with no injuries, and you just have to get it done. It’s not like a real fight. It’s not like you’re fighting for a payday. You just have to get it done, and then move on to the next fight.”

Make sure to tune it tonight, and don’t forget to keep supporting the fat guy.

“I just want to thank all of the fans out there,” said Nelson. “I really appreciate the support. Keep supporting the fat guy! Of course I want to thank TapouT, because I’m bad for the sport! Just based on my appearance, I’m going to change the look of the UFC! I also want to thank superaction.com.

Roy “Big Country” Nelson

The highly anticipated match-up will be airing next Wednesday at it’s normal place and time on Spike TV.

The announcement came on the heels of James McSweeney of Team Rashad’s majority decision victory over Wes Shivers during last nights episode.

The win for Team Rashad placed the ball in their court when it came choosing time for the next match-up.

And so it shall be Big Country vs. Kimbo next week. A showdown between a Youtube sensation and a battle tested veteran of the game.

Make sure to tune in nexty week to what promises to be the highest rated episode in the show’s history.

At 6′ and 250 lbs, Nelson does not always appear to be in peak physical condition. However, Nelson has a 13-4 record and was the IFL heavyweight champion when the promotion folded.

His inclusion on TUF may have surprised some but not White. He said that he never made any negative statements about Nelson.

“That’s not true,” White said. “That was never a thing – ‘Roy, you’re too fat. You can’t fight in the UFC.’ That’s not true.”

As one of the favorites to win the upcoming season, Nelson now has a chance to make a big impact in the UFC, and by adding Nelson to the show, White makes it almost impossible not to believe his side of the story.

In an attempt to pull the ripcord on their financial free fall, EliteXC made a deal with the sponsorship-devil and allowed Affliction to again promote their clothing as well as their fighters under the Elite XC banner. Andrei Arlovski vs. Roy Nelson is the first attempt at a joint product, as both fighters are under the Affliction promotional contract. This adds hardcore credibility to a show that was stacked heavily towards mainstream attractiveness.

Andrei Arlovski is a former Police officer from Belarus and a 2 time World Russian Sambo Champion. Sambo is a Russian self defense system similar to Judo, and Arlovski excelled in it. He used his success in Sambo to launch a professional MMA career. It was not a stellar success right out of the gate with a knockout loss to Viacheslav Datsik. But with good old-fashioned Russian persistence, he won the heavyweight tournament in M1 with two wins in the same night. That was enough for the UFC, and they signed the 20 year old to fight in America. Arlovski started strong in the UFC with a 4-2 mark and his impressive skills and intimidating physical appearance built him a dedicated fan base.

They say one person’s misfortune is another person’s gain, and case in point is Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski. Frank Mir was the reigning Heavyweight Champion in the UFC when tragedy struck in the form of a motor bike accident that almost cost Mir his leg. As a result of his serious injuries, the UFC had to create an Interim Heavyweight title. Arlovski found himself up against Tim Sylvia for the title. One quick leg lock submission later and Arlovski was the new heavyweight Champion. He defended two more times in the next year and when it was decided that Mir would not make it back from his injuries Arlovski was made undisputed heavyweight champion. He then re-matched and lost his title back to Tim Sylvia. The grudge match was a 5 round affair where Arlovski lost an uninspired decision to Sylvia. Shortly after Andrei started to enter contract extension talks with the UFC and as a result was shelved in a move to “change’ the Belarusian’s mind about his demands. When it was obvious that Arlovski was not going to be a UFC fighter anymore, they allowed him to fight his contract out and sign with Affliction. In the first fight on his deal he looked re-invigorated in a third round TKO of top-ten ranked Ben Rothwell.

Arlovski is a supremely gifted athlete with a phenomenal work ethic to go along with it. This is the picture of a top tier athlete fulfilling his potential, and it is a beautiful thing to watch. Arlovski’s standup is second to none in the heavyweight division, as he is being trained by the preeminent boxing coach in the US in Freddie Roach. Arlovski has pro level boxing skills, with footwork and head movement better than most professional boxers at his weight. Arlovski is more than just boxing skills though as his kicks and knees are all explosive with perfect technique. As with most Sambo experts, he is an above average grappler with fantastic leg locks and a full arsenal of submissions. Arlovski’s own worst enemy is himself, as his tendancy to push for the exciting finish or the big knockout will sometimes get himself into positions that will cost him a fight. If Arlovski is smart and plays to his strengths against an opponent, he is one of the toughest heavyweights in the world to beat.

Roy Nelson is one of the best submission grapplers in the Heavyweight division that no one knows about. He is a blackbelt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and has won several North American titles in grappling. As a Las Vegas native he has helped train some of the best fighters in the world. Nelson saw sparring and training with other fighters as more of a job than one fighter helping out another, and decided to make himself some money instead of making other fighters better. Nelson kicked off his professional fighting career with a six fight win streak, four of which were by submission. Nelson’s stand up continually improved by working with well-known boxing coach Skipper Kelp through most of his career. He lost a close split decision to top-ten ranked Ben Rothwell in the IFL, but in that loss showed everyone that he was a force at heavyweight and someone to watch out for in the future. He went on to win 5 fights in a row in the IFL, including the IFL world heavyweight championship belt. Now that the IFL has closed its doors, Nelson is out to find the respect one can get from defeating a top ten opponent. Arlovski may be his road to legitimacy.

Nelson is a world class submission grappler with speed and agility that belie his size. He does not have many peers on the floor in the heavyweight division. During his stay in the IFL he has also developed quite the ground and pound skills. He can pack an impressive punch from the guard and is more than capable of knocking his opponent out. His stand up has also vastly improved during his IFL stay, as he has shown flashes of knockout power in his punches as well as the skill to outmaneuver and strategically deal with much larger opponents in Rothwell and Brad Imes. The one area most people point to as an area of weakness is his conditioning. Although he looks like he is hiding a medicine ball under his t-shirt, he is quite capable of fighting a full 3 or 5 rounds and winning decisions. He truly is a freak of nature in that respect.

This is an interesting fight in a few different ways. At first glance you would think Arlovski has a big edge in this bout, and by all accounts he does. His stand up is cleaner and crisper, and his ground game is defensive enough to stay out of trouble long enough to get it back to the feet where he holds the decisive edge. Nelson has shown a penchant to surprise when he is considered the underdog, and he is fully capable of doing that here. Arlovski has shown a tendancy to get bored with lesser opponents and loss interest. If he does that against Nelson, he could easily lose this fight. But I cannot see this happening. With the pressure of national television and the rather large payday ahead of him with a win, I think the Arlovski of old comes out and puts a striking clinic on Nelson and either ends it in a third round TKO or a unanimous decision win for Arlovski.