Former IFL heavyweight champion and current "The Ultimate Fighter 10" cast member Roy Nelson has never been one to hide his true feelings.
And one day after his win over Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson was broadcast to the world, "Big Country" is no different.
Comfortable in his one-sided TKO win, Nelson believes he matches up just fine with everyone in the UFC's heavyweight division, is proud of the fact that he perfectly predicted his win, and thinks it's time for Slice to take a look at the UFC's 205-pound division. Oh, and then there's the suck-meter thing.
"I think I did pretty good," Nelson told MMAjunkie.com Radio (
www.mmajunkie.com/radio) about his bout with Slice. "I didn't take any damage from the fight. In a tournament format, that's what you want to do.
"I was watching the video, and I kind of 'Babe Ruthed' it. I just called my shot and did it. I did what I wanted."
Nelson did, indeed, tell other members of Team Rashad how he could win the bout by pounding out Slice from the crucifix position. Some fans have today expressed their concern that the fight should not have been stopped due to the less-than-extreme nature of the blows.
Nelson said if anything, referee Herb Dean should have stopped the bout quicker.
"In the first round, I threw 44 shots," Nelson said. "Those were actually pretty hard, because afterward Kimbo ended up having a big hematoma. He looked like The Elephant Man.
"But then, the second round was more of a point like, 'Herb, I can do this all day long.' Herb, I think was afraid to lose his job the way he kept looking at me in the first round."
Nelson did exactly what many thought he would by taking advantage of Slice's deficiencies in the ground game. The former IFL champ believes the former streetfighter's game may actually be more well-suited for the light heavyweight division.
"Kimbo, if he's going to fight in the heavyweight division, he won't be there very long," Nelson said. "He's a 245-pounder who goes down and stays at that 230-pound range. But if he gets down to 205 – the 205's aren't well-rounded. They're not well-rounded; they're more just strikers.
"At 205 (pounds), how many guys actually do takedowns there? You've got Rashad (Evans), you've got Quinton (Jackson), that used to wrestle in the past, but all they do is bang now. That's pretty much all the 205'ers do, is just bang. When you go to the heavyweight, they're more rounded. They've got good base with wrestling, and that's where we first have wrestling and jiu-jitsu, and then we actually bang."
Not that Nelson completely discounts Slice. The two actually shared a room in "The Ultimate Fighter" house from the first day, and Nelson helped coach him through his weaknesses after the bout.
"Afterwards, he wanted to know what I was doing," Nelson said. "Apparently he wasn't learning anything over at 'Rampage's' team. We took the time, and I showed him a couple of different things just trying to make him a better fighter."
Where Nelson goes from this win remains to be seen. But when he gets his chance to face the more experienced fighters in both the house and the UFC's heavyweight division, Nelson believes he'll be ready.
"I think I matchup pretty well across the board," Nelson said. "Most of your wrestlers, when you're doing a wrestling base, it makes more sense to actually be a little closer to the ground, so you actually get the takedown a little easier. But across the board in the heavyweight division, I think I matchup pretty well."
And as for his doubters, Nelson said if you believe his skills are sub-par then you can use him as a tool to measure the talents of other heavyweight fighters.
"The biggest thing was just to expose myself to the UFC fans, introduce myself," Nelson said. "Really, I like to bounce off the keyboard warriors and talk about how much I suck.
"I'd like to be the official suck-meter for the UFC."
